SC - roasting and boiling

[grizly@mindspring.com]

The thing oyu should look for on saffron labelled "Product of Spain" is that it is Mancha saffron, from the Mancha region.  This is this higher quality product (higher production standards).  Other 'spanish saffron' is not neccessarily a ripoff or a fake, but possibly just a lower quality product that has a higher ratio of off colored stamen rather than the yollow/orange ones.  

Less coloring and flavor from the 'chaff' meaning more is needed, but not a bad product by definition.  The other high quality is safron from the Cashmir region of India, IIRC.  There are LOTS of websites out there that can educate you as to what to look for in buying the stuff and background on how it is produced.  Great reading; just do a search on a search engine for Saffron and any limiters you want to add.

niccolo difrancesco

sca-cooks at ansteorra.org wrote:
> And it came to pass on 29 Apr 00,, that David Dendy wrote:
> If you are offered saffron for $17/oz US RETAIL, you may feel reasonable
> certain that what you are being offered is not genuine pure saffron. That
> is considerably less than I have ever seen it offered WHOLESALE, even in
> large quantities by major importers.
[snip]

> Yours spicily,
> Francesco Sirene

I should, perhaps, add that this particular store -- a local Indian grocery --
 is advertising it as a special price, "only one per customer", so perhaps 
it's a loss leader (and it's actually $17.99/oz).  I have not seen the 
saffron close up, since they keep it behind the counter.  It is in golden-
colored tin boxes, with cellophane and a thin cord around them, but the 
words "product of Spain" are visible on the side.  Can one tell by looks 
alone if saffron is genuine?


Lady Brighid ni Chiarain
Settmour Swamp, East (NJ)
mka Robin Carroll-Mann
harper at idt.net



============================================================================

To be removed from the SCA-Cooks mailing list, please send a message to
Majordomo at Ansteorra.ORG with the message body of "unsubscribe SCA-Cooks".

============================================================================