I thought this was a fascinating read.
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A timely article which leads me to enquire about sources for saffron as Iâve run out, and the store from which I bought the last batch no longer carries it. Amazon reviews indicate that fakes abound.
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Saffron is my daughterâs name!
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Was she born before or after Absolutely Fabulous?
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had to look that up, as i never was much of a tv watcher after highschool & havenât had a tv (except to use as a monitor for the visual art i make) in the house since 1997 or so.
she was born in 1993, so that would be after⌠though Donovanâs Mellow Yellow was the inspiration for the name.
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Do you want me to send some from Toronto? Iâm happy to do so, if youâd like. There are 2 places selling Spanish saffron for around $7 for a small container in Kensington Market (same container at Carloâs House of Spice and Sanaganâs Meat Locker.)
There are also Iranian grocery stores that probably sell Iranian saffron here in Toronto.
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I bought this Persian saffron on Amazon and am quite pleased with it; 2grams for $15.95.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B079BQQVY7?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title
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Thank you @Phoenikia ! Thatâs very kind of you, but I wouldnât want you to go to all that trouble.
Iâll try the suggestions from @Babette or @LindaWhit; thanks for those too.
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Spice Trader on Queen St W in Toronto will ship its product, too. Free shipping after $150, some sort of shipping fee for smaller purchases.
Packages of saffron are small enough that I could put a few in one of the small parcel boxes with a flat fee, and that might be cheaper than shipping from Spice Trader or elsewhere.
I enjoyed it as well! Interesting to read about why it seems few have made a go of it in California before.
For example âOne reason: Saffron from abroad is far less expensive, because the labor needed to painstakingly harvest each flower and remove its three delicate stigmas by hand is much cheaper than in the United States.â
âagroecologist Arash Ghalehgolabbehbahaniâ
Is that a long last name, or what?
My son and DIL brought me some from Turkey this visit.
This is from a previous saffron query.
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Perhaps less exciting than youâd like, but the spanish saffron from TJs and the Kirkland saffron from Costco have both been very good in the past. Right now Costcoâs is Greek, which Iâve not used before.
Diaspora sources Kashmiri saffron, which is lovely (and prized above all others in India).
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@BarneyGrubble Canadian Costco still has Spanish saffron. I think more choices are available in-store than online.
When I was younger I thought I wanted to be a feather merchant, but it later dawned on me that saffron farming was the way to go.
Seriously, though, what an amazing product!!!
Thanks everyone for all the tips, especially @Phoenikia for your very kind offer; Iâll keep that in mind, but would you tell me please what brand you have, and Iâll see if I can locate it here or online. I want to save you the trouble of going out to buy it and then mailing it. Iâll let you know.
@LindaWhit, would you tell me please what brand you have; the Amazon link took me to amazon.ca, where there are several brands.
I looked at @Saregama âs Costco link. Yes, I would have to go in as I donât need 25gm, and for $100.
A lot of what Iâm trying to cook and bake is wishful thinking as Iâve been skating close to eternity/infinity a long time, and have severely curtailed my kitchen activities. But, I love paella, and hope to make it again soon.
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This is the brand I got. The first listed: Super Negin saffron, 2 grams. Not sure why you were sent to the Canadian AmazonâŚare you in CAN and not the U.S.?
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Yes.
Well, then the CAN Amazon site makes sense. Iâm assuming prices with shipping are different if youâre buying from a U.S.-based online store.
Depending on where in CAN you are (large city?), perhaps a local shop might be the way to go.
Suggest going to any large Indian grocery store in your vicinity â theyâll have a variety of sizes at a reasonable price (usually behind the counter â you may have to ask for it).
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Thank you @linguafood for posting that truly interesting article. The level of negativity in the comments surprised me. Yes, there are often quite a few of such comments in articles of various typesâŚbut they are more often than not posted relating to articles whose topics tend to be controversial. Who would have thunk that saffron would be such a topic? NOT me!
Sadly, at least to me, in this passage:
âSaffron from abroad is far less expensive, because the labor needed to painstakingly harvest each flower and remove its three delicate stigmas by hand is much cheaper than in the United States.â
one could replace the word âsaffronâ with a myriad of other products and even jobs. I had a lengthy personal example of this regarding my profession to post here, but used the backspace key to âdeleteâ that comment before posting it to avoid adding to the negativity. I hope that even this somewhat innocuous comment isnât too much of a downer.
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