Saffron is an expensive spice that is relatively simple to grow, though labor-intensive to harvest. While it grows in many climates, the quality depends more on soil type. There are several varieties that differ in color, odor and taste. Saffron is planted in the summer and flowers in October, with vegetative growth over winter. It prefers well-drained soil and full sun. After harvesting the red stigmas, they must be dried before use. Saffron has many culinary, medicinal and cosmetic uses and production can improve livelihoods.

1. Saffron (Zafran)
Crocus Sativus
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2. General introduction
• Even if saffron is an expensive spice known as red gold,
growing it is however very simple and accessible to anyone.
Intense labor needed to harvest it, not because it is difficult to
grow.
• Saffron can grow nearly anywhere in the world. The kind of
soil is far more important than the climate of the region
where one wants to grow it.
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3. Quality
The quality of saffron is dependent on its coloring
power (crocin concentration), odor (safranal) and taste
(picrocrocin). The best quality saffron has a high safranal
content. Saffron is dry, glossy and greasy to the touch
when freshly dried, turning dull and brittle with age.
It is easily bleached if not stored in the dark, and also
Stores better under conditions of low temperature and
low relative Humidity.

4. Different Varieties of saffron
1. Sargol Iranian Variety
2. Mancha Spain
3. Rio Spain
4. Sierra Spain
5. Indian Saffron
6. Italian Variety
7. Iranian Standard Variety

5. Vegetation cycle
• Planting: from June to mid-September
• Flowering: throughout October month, from the year it is
planted (for big corms)
• Vegetative development in winter.
• Leaves dry out in May.
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6. Soil and location
• Saffron corms like a well drained soil. Heavy clay soil must be
avoided.
• The ideal type of ground is a neutral clay-calcareous or silty
soil (PH 6 to 8).
• For small areas like a vegetable garden or simple borders, one
can easily improve the soil by adding sand, peat or compost.
• The saffron bed must be in a sunny place, notably in autumn
during the flowering stage
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7. Soil preparation
• In order to prepare the ground, you can either turn the soil
over or plough deeply (about 20 cm) and add some compost
or manure. In the case of nitrogenous fertilizer, it is better to
spread on the surface after planting.
• Keep the ground weed free until planting (from June to
September) and make loosen the soil before planting the
corms
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8. Setting out the saffron bed
• Saffron corms can either be planted directly into the ground
(borders, gardens, fields etc…) or in pots or window boxes
(inside or out).
• Put the corms into the ground at a 10 to 15 cm depth leaving
a 10 cm gap between them.
• Watering is not necessary. In case of severe drought in
September, watering them once will usually be enough.
• Corms multiply from one year to the next, from one corm one
can get 5 corms after 3 years.
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9. Precautions
• Precautions against predators
• Wood mice and voles are particularly fond of corms in winter
as well as in summer. Destroying their tunnels regularly allows
one to limit their number.
• Rabbits, which are particularly keen on leaves and flowers can
only be stopped with a secure fence.
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10. Precautions
 Avoiding diseases
Three fungal infections can harm saffron:
• Rhizoctonia crocorum - causes brown ulceration and
damping-off.
• Fusarium - attacks the corm and leaves an orange-coloured
band on the limit of the healthy parts.
• Violet root rot - produces a damp rot. It is highly contagious;
illness also called "mort du safran" (saffron's death)
• All these diseases resist most fungicides, however, they
mainly appear from the third or fourth years. Consequently,
one should dig up corms and replant them in another field.
• It is better not to use the same field again for 10 years.
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11. Precautions
Weed control
Sawdust mulch helped reduce weed problems. During
the dormant phase, when the tops died off, we used
the herbicides Roundup® or Buster® to clean up the beds
prior to the new season’s flowering and growth.
The choice of chemical depended on the weeds
present. The old top growth, which dies in the
summer, needs to be raked off the beds prior to
the autumn flowering.

12. Precautions
Pests and diseases
Rabbits, rats and birds can cause problems in
Saffron fields by eating or lifting the corms.
Many pests (e.g. nematodes) and diseases
(e.g. corm rots, leaf rusts)
attack saffron, and the incidence is greatly
affected by the growing environment

13. Harvesting
• Flowers generally appear in October (slightly later in the first
year) and last for a month.
• Two methods of harvesting are possible.
• If one only has a small number of flowers, one can leave the
flower and just extract the 3 red filaments from the pistil with
some tweezers. This operation is called trimming
• In the case of large quantities of flowers, one should pick the
flowers as soon as they have bloomed and then extract the red
pistils comfortably sitting around a table.
• To trim, one can use one's nails or small tools like scissors or
tweezers. Trimming the flowers must be done soon after they
are harvested to make the task easier.
• The yellow stamens and purple petals have no use.
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16. Drying….....
• Filaments have to be dried out to be preserved for use.
• Drying can be done by putting the pistils on a sieve in a
well ventilated place between 40 to 60 degrees Celsius,
for 15 minutes (well ventilated food dryer, in an oven
with the door slightly open, under the sun outside).
• When dried, filaments are very light and breakable.
• Fresh saffron, even dried is tasteless. It is
recommended that it is placed in an airtight tin away
from the light for at least a month before consumption.
Saffron keeps its taste for two years.
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17. Yield
• The average yield varies from 2 to 2.5 kg/ha
• About 150 flowers are needed to make one gram of dried
saffron.
• The first year of plantation around 60% of corms will produce
one flower each.
• The next two years, corms will give about 2 flowers each.
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18. Uses of saffron
1. Medicines
2.Foods
3. Confectionary
4. Coloring/ dye of textile
5. Cosmetics
6. Medicinal use for cancer
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19. Medicines
• Historically it was used for treating depression. Clinical tests in the Roozbeh
Psychiatric Hospital in the Tehran University of Medical Sciences have proved that
it is a safe antidepressant.
• It can also be used to treat epilepsy, digestive disturbances, asthmatic breathing,
fever, etc. These uses should not be attempted without medical advice.
• Saffron is as important ingredient of large number of Ayurvedic medicines.
• On account of its strong ant-poisonous, aphrodisiac, cardio-tonic, carminative,
diaphoretic, diuretic, emmenagogue, febrifuge, stimulant, lactogogue, livotonic,
nervine tonic, sedative and styptic properties it is highly valued.
• Saffron is greasy and it cures head ailments and heals wounds. It is pungent, stops
vomiting and gives brightness to the blood.
• Saffron is bitter pungent. It stops phlegm and cures gastric problems. It heals
wounds. It serves as an anti-venom. It also gives brightness to the body y as well
as cures the three ailments Diseases such as leprosy, head ailments, insectbites
are all cured by saffron which also unifies the three body humours
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20. Food
The stigma are soaked in water, milk or alcohol before used in
food, to release the flavor and colour. Well-known dishes are
paella, bouillabaisse, breyani and "yellow rice" (pulao). It
goes particularly well with dairy products and most grains. It
has a slightly bitter taste on its own, but taste is greatly
influenced by the pairing with ingredients, as well as its
cultivation.
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21. Confectionary
• A saffron bun, in Swedish lussekatt (literally "Lucy cat",
after Saint Lucy) or lussebulle, is a rich yeast dough bun that
is flavoured with saffronand cinnamon or nutmeg and
contains currants. In Sweden, no cinnamon or nutmeg is used
in the bun, and raisins are used instead of currants. The buns
are baked into many traditional shapes, of which the simplest
is a reversed S-shape. They are traditionally eaten during
Advent, and especially on Saint Lucy's Day, December 13. In
England, the buns were traditionally baked
on sycamore leaves and dusted with powdered sugar. This
"revel bun" from Cornwall is baked for special occasions, such
as anniversary feasts (revels), or the dedication of a church.
In the West of Cornwall large saffron buns are also known as
"tea treat buns" and are associated with Methodist Sunday
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22. Dye
This was the primary use centuries ago and
the pigments that cause the intensive yellow
colour have been isolated and their staining
capacity chemically determined. The yellow
robes of the Buddhist monks in Tibet and
China are saffron-dyed.
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23. Cosmetics
• Saffron is thought to clear skin, even acne, and is usually
applied in the form of a mask. Traditionally it was used by
high-born Indian women to impart a golden hue to the skin.
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25. Why Saffron is so important
Saffron production requires about 10% of the water needed to
produce cotton. The plant germinates naturally around the
village, therefore it requires minimum tending to produce a
good crop. And being one of the most expensive spices of the
world, farmers who switched to saffron could count on
doubling their income. A small local enterprise was
established to link the saffron producers to its consumers,
which brought significant benefits to the community. New
education and employment opportunities arose. Women
played a major role in all these developments and thus
improved their social status.
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26. Thanks for Attention
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