SC - Saffron

[Philip & Susan Troy]

"Butterfield, Margaret" wrote:
> 
> I have read about "imitation" saffron.  It is usually the staymin *sic* of
> the flower and usually comes ground for chopped up.  It still gives the
> coloration and a very mild bit of taste and is priced the same as real.  For
> surety, buy the whole.

Yes. Most of the fake saffron I've seen has been azafran, a.k.a. Mexican
saffron, a.k.a. osfor, a.k.a. safflower. It comes from a comparable part
of an entirely different plant, though, and while it is little reddish
threads, it has nowhere near the capacity for coloring (it kinda just
sits there, so you have to add tons to have any effect at all. It has
nothing like the flavor of saffron either, and is generally closer in
flavor and color to ground red sandalwood. It grows pretty much
worldwide, AFAIK.

But it _is_ cheap, so if that's anybody's main consideration, it would
be worth looking into. Last time I checked it ran around $8 a pound.

A friend of mine, some years ago, brought back for me from Turkey
something like 1/4 or 1/2 a kilo of either safflower or a very inferior
grade of saffron, which he had bought for very little in a market near
Topkapi, he said, in Istanbul. He was extremely proud of his purchase
and I didn't have the heart to tell him the truth about what it was. I
still have some of the stuff somewhere...
     
Adamantius
- -- 
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com
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