{"id":12281,"date":"2014-09-27T13:00:45","date_gmt":"2014-09-27T17:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/?p=12281"},"modified":"2014-09-26T13:56:44","modified_gmt":"2014-09-26T17:56:44","slug":"quebec-farm-tries-exotic-crop-saffron","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/2014\/09\/27\/quebec-farm-tries-exotic-crop-saffron\/","title":{"rendered":"Quebec farm tries exotic crop: saffron"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Crocus<\/a>

Crocus sativus plant, Pei\u00dfnitzinsel, Germany.
Image:\u00a0HeiWu, Creative Commons<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

Do you cook with saffron<\/a>? Me neither.<\/p>\n

It’s rare and expensive. But then again “expensive” can also be worth growing yourself, or trying out as a cash crop.<\/p>\n

I was surprised to read this recent CBC item<\/a> about a farm in Quebec that’s giving saffron a try.<\/p>\n

Pur Safran,\u00a0located in the small Quebec village of St-Elie-de-Caxton, expects to harvest 450 to 500 grams of the precious spice before the end of October.<\/p>\n

“We would like\u00a0for Quebec to become\u00a0self-sufficient in saffron production, because we can do it,” \u00a0said Pur\u00a0Safran co-owner\u00a0Nathalie\u00a0Denault, who not only produces the spice, but teaches other potential growers the ropes.<\/p>\n

Saffron comes from the reddish-orange stigmas of a particular crocus flower\u00a0and is considered to be the most\u00a0expensive spice in the world.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"Crocus<\/a>

Crocus sativus, Atlas des plantes de France. 1891<\/p><\/div>\n

NPR’s food blog, The Salt, had an item in early September entitled: These 5 crops are still harvested by hand and it’s hard work.<\/a>\u00a0The foods listed were saffron, vanilla, chocolate, palm oil and cottonseed oil.<\/p>\n

The tropical stuff isn’t going to do well around here. But saffron starts as a bulb and is pretty tough. Much of the world’s supply comes from places like Kashmir, which reportedly suffered severed damage<\/a> to saffron production due to floods this year.<\/p>\n

The Quebec saffron farm has a (French language) website Pursafran<\/a> with more photos and info on their efforts. Saffron is famously associated with the yellow dish paella, but can also be used in many other recipes<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Actually, I did grow saffron from a few bulbs when I lived in Kars. It’s no harder than any other crocus. The hard part (for me) was remembering where I’d planted it and remembering to watch for the flowers and harvest the delicate stigma in the fall.<\/p>\n

Having moved to North Gower, I can start that attempt again, if I mail order more bulbs and keep better track of where they are!<\/p>\n

\"Harvesting<\/a>

Harvesting saffron in Iran. Image: Safa.daneshvar Creative Commons<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Do you cook with saffron? Me neither.
\nIt’s rare and expensive. But then again “expensive” can […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[15005,159,36,87,15004,15003],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12281"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12281"}],"version-history":[{"count":28,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12281\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12317,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12281\/revisions\/12317"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12281"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}