The history and use of saffron by human hands is more than 3500 years old.
In general, the history of saffron production can be considered to be about a thousand years. The first cultivation of saffron became popular in Iran during the Sassanid period and in the city of Qom. Of course, some historical sources mention 5 thousand years of saffron in Iran. Because in a botanical book belonging to the Assyrian era, it is written about saffron flower.
Saffron is a spice that is obtained from the dried stigma of the saffron flower and has been among the most expensive materials in the world throughout history; And it is used as a spice, color, perfume and medicine. The root and lineage of saffron is native to Southwest Asia and after that it was cultivated for the first time in Greece. Currently, Iran is considered the largest producer of saffron in the world and in 2008 Nearly nine tenths of the world’s saffron is produced in Iran.
The wild type of saffron flower was probably Saffron cartraitianus, which originated in Crete or Central Asia.
Now, the saffron flower is a polyploid organism that is self-incompatible and has male sterile gametes; This plant has inappropriate meiosis and as a result is incapable of independent reproduction.
Humans have probably eugenicized them by selecting the longer-stigmatized Carthrithianus.
The resulting saffron can be found in the Assyrian botanical source belonging to the 7th century BC, written by Ashur Bani Pal, and since then it has been used in the treatment of 90 diseases for 4 thousand years.
The saffron clone was slowly found in most parts of Eurasia, and later reached parts of North Africa, North America, and Oceania.
Middle East and Iran
Today, saffron pigments can be found in prehistoric paintings that were created 50,000 years ago in the caves of present-day Iraq, and the northwest of the Iranian empire, and depict animals. Sumerians used saffron as the main ingredient in medicines and magic potions. The Sumerians did not cultivate saffron. They collected saffron from wild flowers and believed that the divine power alone is able to provide the medicinal properties of saffron. Such evidence suggests that long-distance trade in saffron was prevalent before the cultivation of saffron in the Minoan palaces of Crete, which peaked in the second millennium BC.
In ancient Iran, in the 10th century BC, saffron was cultivated in the cities of Darband (Russia) and Isfahan. Iranian saffron strands are mixed with royal carpets and shrouds of the dead.
In ancient Iran, worshipers used saffron as an offering to God, and as a bright yellow colour. They used perfume and medicine. Therefore, saffron strands were spread throughout the dormitory and mixed with hot tea to cure soda. In fact, foreigners suspected that Iranians’ use of saffron threads in tea and food has an addictive and sexual arousal aspect. These fears increased and caused tourists and travellers to avoid consuming foods containing saffron in Iran. In addition, the aqueous solution obtained from Iranian saffron with sandal plant was used to wash the body after hard work and under the scorching Iranian sun. . Later, Iranian saffron was widely used by Iskandar and his army. They mixed saffron with tea and ate saffron rice. Alexander himself, following Cyrus the Great, used saffron for bathing. Alexander, like Cyrus, believed that saffron heals wounds, and his faith in saffron increased as a result of this method. He even offered saffron bathing to his men. Greek soldiers, after seeing the therapeutic benefits of saffron, continued to use it after returning to Macedonia. Saffron cultivation had also reached present-day Turkey, they cultivated saffron centrally in the north of the city of Safran. This place is now also famous for its annual saffron festivals.
Classical Europe
In France, saffron production became very important in the 17th and 18th centuries and reached several tons. At that time, saffron cultivation spread throughout the empire. Saffron was mainly cultivated in Albi, Angoumei, Gatineau, Normandy, Périgord, Poteau, Provence and Quercy.
In the 18th century, the amount of cultivation mysteriously decreased, probably due to the spread of fungal diseases, cold winters and the competitive market of the countries around the Mediterranean. In the middle of the 20th century, only a handful of families grew saffron in their gardens for ornamental and personal use. They gave. Cultivation of this crop has been revived only since the third millennium.
In England, saffron cultivation is possible only in the light and well-drained soil of North Essex. The town of Saffron Walden in Essex has taken such a name because it is the center of saffron cultivation and trade. Its original name was Chepping Walden, and the change of this name affected the importance of its cultivation on the people. With the emergence of England from the heart of the Middle Ages, the rise of Puritan sentiments, the conquests abroad of the new country, threatened the use and cultivation of saffron in England.
Puritans were fond of spicy and unspiced food. Saffron was also a product that required a lot of work, with the increase in wages, this turned into another disadvantage; And finally, the influx of various types of spices from the Far East caused the attention of England to turn to other cheaper things like other Europeans.
This desire was written by William Herbert, chaplain of Manchester. He collected samples and wrote information about saffron. He was worried about the decline of saffron cultivation in the 17th century and at the same time as the dawn of the industrial revolution; In this era, it was possible to easily and cheaply produce corn and potatoes in Europe. In addition, capitalists who were already involved in the saffron trade turned to new attractive goods such as chocolate, coffee, tea and vanilla. Only in the south of France and in Italy and Spain, where the cultivation of saffron had a long history, this cultivation remained as the dominant cultivation.
North America
Saffron found its way to the New World when the Alsatian, German, and Swiss Anabaptists and others in Europe fled the persecution of the church. They originally settled in eastern Pennsylvania in the Sasque River Valley. These immigrants, who became known as the Pennsylvania Dutch, began to cultivate saffron widely in 1730, after the seeds arrived in America. The owners of those saffron lands were German Protestants. They loved saffron and continued to cultivate it in Germany. The popularity of Pennsylvania saffron quickly developed and reached the Spanish colonies in the Caribbean.
But the war of 1812 destroyed many commercial ships carrying American saffron. After that, saffron growers in Pennsylvania faced an overproduction, and trade with the Caribbean was never the same. However, Pennsylvania growers found many uses for the excess saffron in their baking—cakes, noodles, chicken, or salmon. The cultivation of saffron originally continued in Lancaster, Pennsylvania to this day.