Yes, it’s real saffron, it is very common here. It is for sale in the local markets, in the stores and at the airport. It is everywhere. ETA: and that price is not cheap to an Afghan. I’ve done some work on agriculture value chains here, the real cost is packaging and transporting goods out of the country in any kind of reliable way. This same saffron, transported from Afghanistan to a US market is much more expensive, the main cost being transport and security for goods getting out.
I use saffron in shakshouka, if you ever eat that.
I love shakshouka, that’s my go to winter mid-week meal. Thanks for the tip, do you just add it, or do you soak it in warm water and add that to the pot.
You ever make it with duck eggs?
Saffron gets used in a lot of medieval recipes. I think my favourites are Chike Endored (roast chicken glazed with saffron + eggyolk) and Digby’s Excellent Cakes (basically saffron currant cake)
I’ve brought back all kinds of spices from all sorts of places and never had a problem, even with stuff in plastic baggies from open-air markets in developing countries. (One batch, from Georgia - the country, not the state - was so aromatic that even after wrapping it in several layers of plastic baggies, I was afraid the CBP dogs would run across the airport and tackle me!)
Just be honest about whatever you have and it will most likely be fine - the only times I’ve seen CBP get thorough about examining luggage involved things like meat, cheese, or fresh fruit, especially citrus. One Customs examiner, when I checked the box on the Customs declaration that I had food, asked “is it anything good for you?” (I typically have candy.) When I said no, he laughed and waved me through.
A pinch of saffron is delicious in a fish stew.
I generally don’t even have to talk to anyone, I have Global Entry, I scan my passport and walk out.
Saffron muffins and sweet cream butter.
There are different grades of saffron. The most prized grades costs hundreds of dollars per pound. In the US saffron is sold in tiny amounts for outrageous prices, example, one ounce of saffron from Amazon for $139.99. I can’t see buying that much though, I can get 1 gram of saffron for about $6 around here, and that’s plenty for a while.
I don’t know how the grading is done, or what difference it makes in flavor or color but a lot of saffron comes from Afghanistan and the OP is onto a real deal here.
Saffron is one of those things I would absolutely not be willing to trust Amazon sellers. I’d rather go to an actual spice merchant.
($356.00 per ounce. ouch.)
IME a little saffron goes a loooooooong way. An ounce would be a lifetime supply in my kitchen.
Maybe if I grew up with it I would have more of a taste for it. But it’s like lobster - nice once in a while, but too expensive to develop a taste for it.
My mother once made a dessert which was essentially doughnut holes soaked in a saffron syrup. And she got kind of carried away with the saffron. I don’t exactly dislike saffron - it’s fine in small amounts, and it is so expensive that small amounts is all that people in my circle usually use. And that’s just fine with me.
YMMV.
Regards,
Shodan
This thread reminds me that Mrs. Charming and Rested bought six small bottles of saffron around 6 months ago for what seemed like an insanely cheap price. I think it was $18 for all six roughly 0.027 oz bottles. They had a “picked on ___” date from I think February of this year. We’ve barely used it because, as everyone has noted, a little goes a long way. We meant to give some away as gifts but I think we failed. I don’t want it to go to waste so I’ll send a bottle completely free to the first U.S. doper who PMs me and asks. Use it in good health.
Already claimed by Czarcasm!
Hadn’t thought of that. Do you have a favorite recipe?
I’ve been buying the brand I linked to for many years, and it’s quality stuff. Perhaps not up to the Afghan product, but Spanish saffron is very good.
Just take a pinch of saffron, mortar and pestle that pinch and add it to your favorite banana or chopped raisin muffin batch. Got it from an old Swedish recipe book.
Pears poached in saffron syrup:
Peel, halve and core a couple of bosc pears. Make a syrup of 2 parts sugar and 1 part each water and white wine, and add to it a pinch of saffron and maybe a lemon peel. Poach the pears in this syrup slowly until the pears are tender and slightly translucent. Let them cool in the syrup. Refrigerate them in the syrup and serve them cold with a dollop of whipped cream.
Add a tiny bit of saffron to your white tea and brew up a bit of savory heaven.
Definitely doing this one with pear season upon us.
I love them, but my husband dislikes both the flavor of saffron and poached pears. If I make them, I make them for myself only.