Are You Sure You’ve Bought the Right Saffron?

Saffron is a costly substance, and selling fake saffron is a way for individuals to make money. How would you tell the difference between Pure Saffron and fake saffron if there were no technology to verify authenticity?

Many people are aware of saffron's health benefits. However, distinguishing between pure saffron threads and their many forms can be challenging. Given the price, it's vital to know what you're paying for and ensure you're getting a high-quality product with the most incredible aroma, flavor, and color.

Saffron's golden tint and delicate flavor are helpful in various dishes, including Italian risotto and Iranian Joojeh kabab. However, this is an expensive spice subject to adulteration like many other high-priced items.

Here are, we will explain various procedures for testing saffron purity.

What Is Saffron Fraud?

Saffron is the name given to the beautiful red threads or stigmata of the crocus sativus flower, a spice made from it. After being taken from the flower, the 'threads' are dried and utilized in food and medicine.

Saffron is likely to grow mainly in Greece, Iran, Morocco, and India. It takes roughly 150,000 to 160,000 blooms to make 1 kilogram of the spice, 450,000 strands. Saffron handpicking is a time-consuming process that can take up to 40 hours before it is dried and packaged. As a result of the high price of the procedure, many shops take a simple way out and blend some of the actual saffron with maize strings tinted with edible food coloring. It doesn't endanger your health, but it is fake.

Moreover, the stigma of the fall crocus blossom is real saffron, and the stigma is red, whereas the flower is purple. Each crocus bulb yields only one bloom, with three stigmas per blossom; consequently, the spice is difficult to come by and costly to buy.

What could go wrong with your purchase? It's possible that the item labeled as saffron is wholly fraudulent or that it's real saffron tainted with other things.

According to the Iranian Red saffron exporter, corn silk threads, safflower (a different thistle), coconut filaments, colored horsehair, or shredded paper can all be used to make fake saffron. When you run the water test, you'll see that the dye used to color fake saffron comes off rapidly.

How to test the quality?

Food and quality control procedures are stringent in the UAE. However, when travel opportunities arise, we will visit nations and buy, including saffron among our purchases. How can we be sure and confident that what we're buying is genuine?

1. Know your flower

A saffron blossom is simple to recall. Two yellow stamens, purple petals, and three red stigmata, or 'threads,' make up this flower. Corn silk threads have a somewhat different form, with the upper half shaped like a trumpet and narrowing down to the bottom, whereas these threads are elongated. The stigmas aren't very gleaming. If they look like that, you're probably dealing with saffron that's been tampered with. You may, however, put this to the test - we'll get to that.

2. Trust your senses

Saffron has a musky, sweet fragrance that mixes the odors of hay and honey. When you flavor your saffron, it must have a harsh flavor that dominates the sweetness.

3. Completing the transaction

Saffron is one of the most costly and exclusive spices globally, as we've established. If your saffron is only a few dollars, it's probably not the real kind. Genuine saffron will set you back a significant amount of money. According to iso.org, the official site for the International Organisation for Standardisation, Because of less costly spices, Another technique to raise the price is not thoroughly drying the saffron. The more damp the powder is, the more it weighs.

4. Sealing your saffron

Always look for the 'ISO Standard 3632' approval when purchasing a package of saffron. International Organization for Standardization creates standards to ensure that products, services, and systems are high quality, safe, and efficient.

Putting your saffron to the test

• Test 1: Don't worry if you've already purchased a new box of saffron from an Iranian Red saffron exporter. You may use a few home tests (that we have tried and proven) to establish the validity of your saffron. Soak a few threads or stems of saffron in warm water for the most straightforward method. If the saffron strands retain their crimson red color after being soaked, you've got yourself the original spice. If it loses color, you buy corn strings dipped in food coloring.
• Test 2: Another technique to tell if saffron is good is to see how soon the water turns golden yellow. When rubbed together, real saffron preserves a mellow golden yellow color, and the strand does not break. Saffron that has been tampered with may quickly diffuse in water, make it dark orange, and crumble when rubbed together.
• Test 3: If you still don't want to go to the trouble of dipping saffron in water, a dry thread or two placed between the pages of a book would suffice. Your saffron is genuine if it breaks or powders readily, and if it doesn't, it's been tampered with.

Tips for buying saffron

Never purchase crushed saffron. Even if your recipe calls for ground, you can at least tell whether it's genuine if you buy it in threads. Once they are not in their original form or crushed, it's nearly hard to distinguish between authentic and false or contaminated substances. Plus, even if true, pulverized saffron may contain fillers like colored rice flour, starch, or other spices like turmeric or paprika.

It may seem self-evident, but remember to buy from a reliable source is always a good idea. That source may be a business you know and trust or an internet merchant you've checked out.

Final thoughts

Pure saffron is beneficial for those who want to get the most out of their saffron. It is not difficult to identify pure saffron, and there are several methods for doing so. Saffron of high quality has distinct characteristics that everyone can recognize. Aside from the testing procedures discussed before, another excellent approach to identify high-quality, pure saffron is to check for businesses that have received ISO certification.

We hope that this material will support you in making the best decision possible.