Saffron…The Golden Crop

Saffron is golden-coloured, and quite as pricey, and its exquisite sweet scent may be enjoyed during these Autumnal days. The FREE guided walks by The Cliffs Interpretation Centre enable visitors to spot the yellow-throated crocus along specific sections of the walk.

Saffron threads are the dried stigma of the autumn-flowering, crocus species referred to as Crocus sativus. The saffron spice is harvested by hand from the three orange stigmas of each flower in a very meticulous and long process. To produce 30 grams of the spice, more than 13,000 threads are needed, meaning over 4000 flowers of the crocus. Saffron is thus worth more than its weight in gold.

Although saffron is produced in Greece, Iran, Spain, Morocco, Italy, Turkey and India, in Malta we may encounter the wild species of the Yellow-throated crocus, Crocus longiflorus (Żagħfran Salvaġġ), which grows in the wild, and is uncultivated. The plant grows from underground corns to a height of just 1.5cm, and it has no leaves. The same uncultivated saffron can also be found in mainland Italy and Sicily, apart from the Maltese Islands.

The stigma from the saffron also has medicinal value such as in treating asthma, coughs, insomnia, depression, pain, etc…