Saffron is a pistil from the flower crocus sativus or better known as saffron crocus, which comes from

Greece. As a spice from dried flowers, saffron can give the sweet scent of flowers. Not just aroma,
saffron is used to give color to the cuisine. Color saffron pistil will 'fade' to yellow when processed in
cooking or warm drinks. It's just that, because the original taste of saffron is a little bitter, saffron is
used quite a bit in cooking.Not only because of the rather bitter taste of saffron, the use of a little
saffron also to save costs.The reason is saffron is the most expensive spice in the world. For every 1
kilogram, saffron is priced between 1000 USD or around 14 million rupiah to 5000 USD or around 70
million rupiah. In fact, for the best quality, the price can reach 150 million rupiah per kilogram. Here
are some reasons that make saffron prices so expensive.

1. Harvest is not easy

To produce one kilogram of saffron about 340,000 saffron crocus flowers are needed.
Because, in one flower bud there are only three pistil stems (saffron) that will be taken to
become spices.To get the best quality saffron, flowers should not bloom too much, so the
harvest time is very limited. In fact, farmers have to fight with time all day.In addition,
caution is needed to harvest saffron because the part of the pistil is very sensitive. If
damaged or broken, the quality of saffron decreases considerably, and the price
drops.Saffron also can only be harvested manually by human hands, before then dried.
There are no tools, all really hard work of farmers.

2. Grow in a specific environment

In addition to the pistil, other parts of the flower are equally sensitive. Saffron crocus flowers
of the highest quality can only grow under specific conditions, namely dry areas, get lots of
sun, and enough rainfall.This flower only blooms for 6 weeks from the end of September to
early December and is harvested in the morning to get the best quality.Saffron comes from
Greece. Then this flower spread to Iran, India, Spain, Italy, and the United States and was
adopted as a spice in the region's traditional menu cuisine. At present Iran is the number
one saffron producing country in the world.

3. Contains 'expensive' substances

As quoted from Reader's Digest, saffron contains important chemicals which are very
expensive such as picrocrocin, crocin, and safranal. These three substances are responsible
for giving the taste, color, and aroma of saffron.

4. Has many benefits

Since ancient times the ancient Greeks, Chinese, and Indians have used saffron for a variety
of things, ranging from perfume ingredients, coloring clothes, to medicinal herbs.