Saffron

Saffron is used in cooking for its delicious and powerful aroma, but also for colouring dishes with its beautiful yellow-orange colour.

Saffron has many virtues. Among other things, it is said to promote blood circulation, warm the mucous membranes and increase sensations, hence its reputation as an aphrodisiac. It is also a tonic (combats fatigue and overwork). It is a good digestive and stimulates the liver.

The small town of Taliouine (not far from Taroudant) is the great saffron production centre of Morocco. This saffron is produced in the surrounding villages at high altitude. Morocco is the only African country that produces an organic saffron of superior quality and whose colouring power, between 228 and 240%, exceeds that of saffron grown in Iran (160%), the world’s leading producer. Taliouine’s red gold is distinguished by its colour, a beautiful dark red, its strong odour and unequalled taste.

Saffron comes from the flower (Crocus Sativus), a mauve and bulbous plant belonging to the iridaceae family. The corolla contains yellow stamens and three long red stigmas. Once dried, these stigmas give saffron. Red gold needs a special soil and is highly dependent on climatic conditions: it requires a hot summer between 30 and 40° C and a wet and cold winter. Harvesting takes place between mid-October and mid-November and is concentrated over a period of two to three hours, at daybreak, so that the stigmas are not faded by the sun. The stigmas should be removed very quickly to prevent the flowers from settling. Daily picking requires a lot of work (picking by hand). It takes about 230,000 flowers to get one kilo of this spice. This is what justifies its exorbitant price. From 12,000 to 100,000 dirhams per kilo (in bulk), saffron is indisputably the most expensive spice on the planet.