Our Herati Saffron has a beautiful delicate floral flavor, golden color and warm, honeyed fragrance reminiscent of dried roses and fresh hay. Our saffron threads are pulled carefully from the flower, which leaves a characteristic flame-colored tail. That slight gradation in color is your assurance that our saffron is 100% pure and never dyed or otherwise adulterated. The threads are also uncommonly delicate.
Saffron is a key element in cuisines from the Mediterranean to South Asia and is used in both sweet and savory preparations. It adds a distinctive floral flavor and golden color to fragrant rice dishes like paella, risotto and biryani, to frozen desserts like ice cream and kulfi, and to traditional teas. It is often paired with cardamom, pistachio and rosewater.Saffron is also said to have beneficial health properties, including increasing serotonin levels, reducing stress and anxiety and reducing hunger pangs.
Our saffron is of the highest quality, sometimes called super negin or sargol depending on how it is harvested and graded.
- Origin: Herat, Afghanistan
- Process: Sun-dried
- Ingredients: Whole saffron threads (Crocus sativa)
- Tasting notes: Honey • Dried Roses • Fresh Hay
COOKING
- Steep a few threads in warm water when making crunchy baked rice
- Add a handful of threads when making paella
- Saffron Fried Rice with Bacon and Shrimp
- Pairs well with: Cloud Forest Cardamom, Wild Mountain Cumin, Silk Chili Flakes
SOURCING
Our saffron is cultivated in the deserts of the Herat province in western Afghanistan, on the border with Iran, where saffron has grown for thousands of years. During the annual harvest in November and December, farmers begin work at dawn, plucking the beautiful white and purple crocus flowers before the desert sun can wilt them and ruin the invaluable stigmas. Each flower produces only three stigmas, which are painstakingly extracted by hand and dried.
Saffron is immensely valuable, and like any valuable product, dishonest traders may attempt to deceive consumers about the quality of their product. Safflower, a different flower entirely, is sometimes sold as saffron; safflower petals have straight, orange threads, while true saffron threads are deep red, curled and tangled. Lower-grade saffron threads may also be cut and colored with red dye to make them appear higher quality.
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First timer
I’ve never used saffron before and now I don’t know why!! First, it smells so intoxicating that I wasn’t sure how best to use it so it didn’t lose that scent. I chose a Moroccan chicken stew. Let me tell you, it did not disappoint. The smell in my kitchen is heady and floral and the taste is citrusy, light but very warming and exotic. I’m off to find more recipes with saffron. I hate that I’m so late to the saffron game!!


Best Christmas Gift!!!!
My kids gave me a dozen bottles of Burlap & Barrel spices for Christmas (to be fair, I put this on my Christmas list but I NEVER expected so many!!!!). I have used the Black Lime on so many things, I love it! I love all of them, actually! I am a professional chef and using the very best ingredients is so important to me. Now, my spice shelf is as amazing as the local, sustainably-sourced ingredients that are at the heart of my cuisine!


Special. Gave my risotto a more intense flavor
I think your spices are terrific. I enjoy using them and have given them as gifts. My husband and I were big fans of Floyd. We were regulars at hTabla etc. best, Sheila Rothman
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