# That cost me 16 bucks!? (Saffron) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 5, 2009, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-cost-me-16-bucks-saffron/484510 "2009-02-05T01:57:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2009, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-cost-me-16-bucks-saffron/484510/21 "2009-02-05T19:52:58Z")
> [@Walloon](#): > > Did you have to ask for the saffron bottle at the customer service counter? I did. Felt like I was buying heroin. On a price per kilo basis you woundnt be far off! The guy who figures out how to make cheap saffron will give Bill Gates a run for the money. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2009, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-cost-me-16-bucks-saffron/484510/22 "2009-02-05T20:03:07Z")
Indeed. I think I’ve seen saffron in our local Tesco priced at £3000 per kilo or something like it (maybe even £3500). Not that you’re buying it in those quantities, but such are the vagaries of food pricing - the label states the packet price but also the unit-mass price for comparison. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2009, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-cost-me-16-bucks-saffron/484510/23 "2009-02-05T20:25:29Z")
> [@WarmNPrickly](#): > > I bought the saffron at Penzies online store. I assume it’s decent, but it really doesn’t have a very strong smell. Crush it before you add it to any dish. ---
**Author:** ![Girl\_From\_Mars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3da27b/32.png) [@Girl\_From\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Girl_From_Mars)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2009, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-cost-me-16-bucks-saffron/484510/24 "2009-02-05T20:26:35Z")
> [@Manduck](#): > > …which would make a chittak about 58.32 grams. Are you sure that’s right? 58g of cloves in any recipe sounds way too much. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2009, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-cost-me-16-bucks-saffron/484510/25 "2009-02-05T20:29:37Z")
> [@Girl\_From\_Mars](#): > > Are you sure that’s right? 58g of cloves in any recipe sounds way too much. I think the OP’s recipe is to feed a LOT of people. I seem to remember something about a pound of cumin! ---
**Author:** ![WarmNPrickly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d78d45/32.png) [@WarmNPrickly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WarmNPrickly)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2009, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-cost-me-16-bucks-saffron/484510/26 "2009-02-05T21:07:02Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > I think the OP’s recipe is to feed a LOT of people. I seem to remember something about a pound of cumin! I think the recipe is to feed an average Indian family of twenty for several months of eating it three times a day, but yea, pretty much the same concept. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2009, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-cost-me-16-bucks-saffron/484510/27 "2009-02-05T21:17:50Z")
> [@Malacandra](#): > > Indeed. I think I’ve seen saffron in our local Tesco priced at £3000 per kilo or something like it (maybe even £3500). Not that you’re buying it in those quantities, but such are the vagaries of food pricing - the label states the packet price but also the unit-mass price for comparison. 😃 From the Tesco website: _Tesco Ingredient Spanish Saffron 0.4g - £2.58( **£6,450.00/kg** )_ Damn inflation. ---
**Author:** ![Mtgman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5a626/32.png) [@Mtgman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mtgman)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2009, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-cost-me-16-bucks-saffron/484510/28 "2009-02-05T22:01:26Z")
Actually, saffron is probably at damn near all time historical low prices. There was a time when saffron sold for its weight in gold, literally. As of now a [kilo of gold](http://goldprice.org/gold-price-per-kilo.html) is trading at £20,114, or US $29,409. Luxury I tell ya! Luxury! Makes me want to get my purple clothes out and dine like a King. Too bad my daughter is allergic to saffron. She loves it, but we can only have it for dinner because she has to take benedryl afterwords and it puts her straight out. Enjoy, Steven ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2009, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-cost-me-16-bucks-saffron/484510/29 "2009-02-05T22:40:25Z")
That tells us more about the price of gold recently than saffron - go back eight or nine years and the gold is a third of its current value. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2009, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-cost-me-16-bucks-saffron/484510/30 "2009-02-05T23:01:05Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > The cost is so high that I’m surprised anybody would buy it in a grocery store and take a chance on it being either over the hill or not the good stuff. Also, beware of websites that purport to sell you powdered saffron at a very cheap price. It’s likely to be a bit of saffron mixed with a lot of tumeric. Safflower is another cheap, and common, saffron substitute. It’s sometimes sold as “Mexican saffron” or “American saffron.” ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2009, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-cost-me-16-bucks-saffron/484510/31 "2009-02-05T23:06:47Z")
> [@GorillaMan](#): > > From the Tesco website: _Tesco Ingredient Spanish Saffron 0.4g - £2.58( **£6,450.00/kg** )_ > > Damn inflation. Damn pound taking a beating from the Euro, too, I should think. ---
**Author:** ![rjk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@rjk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjk)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2009, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-cost-me-16-bucks-saffron/484510/32 "2009-02-06T00:06:03Z")
> [@Petrobey\_Mavromihalis](#): > > Odd that this should crop up today. > > We’re in a rented / borrowed house at the moment. It’s normally rented short term to people on holiday, all of whom seem to buy new kitchen supplies. The owner told us to work through as much of it as we could. > > This included a jar of good looking saffron. My girlfriend thought a pinch of this would add some nice colour and flavour to a whole boiled chicken. Except her hand slipped . . . > > So tonight I am having chicken that has been simmering in about 30g of saffron for half a day. It smells divine. I shall report back on taste You might want to be careful with that. From [here](http://www.uni-graz.at/~katzer/engl/Croc_sat.html): > [@](#): > > In high dosage, saffron exhibits toxic qualities. It has even been used as an abortificant in doses of five to ten gramms; such amounts, are, however already severely toxic. Due to its high price and the much smaller amounts used for cooking, accidental saffron poisoning seems to be very rare, though. The full set of [Spice Pages](http://www.uni-graz.at/~katzer/engl/index.html) will tell you more than you thought there was to know about all sorts of herbs and spices. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2009, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-cost-me-16-bucks-saffron/484510/33 "2009-02-06T00:14:13Z")
errr… does anyone know where **Petrobey Mavromihalis** lives? Let’s hope it’s actually tumeric Report back to us pronto! ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2009, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-cost-me-16-bucks-saffron/484510/34 "2009-02-06T00:30:49Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > errr… does anyone know where **Petrobey Mavromihalis** lives? > > Let’s hope it’s actually tumeric > > Report back to us pronto! Well, if anybody ever was to die of an accidental fatal dose of saffron, it WOULD have to be a doper wouldnt it? ---
**Author:** ![WarmNPrickly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d78d45/32.png) [@WarmNPrickly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WarmNPrickly)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2009, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-cost-me-16-bucks-saffron/484510/35 "2009-02-06T01:23:20Z")
> [@Petrobey\_Mavromihalis](#): > > …So tonight I am having chicken that has been simmering in about 30g of saffron for half a day. It smells divine. I shall report back on taste That’s totally insane. Would you have done the same thing with 30 grams of crack, because apparently it costs more than crack. After spending 16 bucks on a gram of this stuff, if I spilled 30 grams I’d treat it like I just dropped all the crack I needed to pay my pimp.\* - Stirictly an analogy, not meant to imply any type of actual transaction. Incidently, my chicken/paneer tikka masala was to die for. Honestly, I think one of the biggest reasons was that I had actual indian red chilli peppers. Unfortunately, since I could only guess as to what the units were for my garahm masala spice, I will live off this version for a few months and never be able to replicate it again. Definitely grinding the saffron in a mortar and pestle brought out some flavor. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2009, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-cost-me-16-bucks-saffron/484510/36 "2009-02-06T01:43:57Z")
> [@WarmNPrickly](#): > > That’s totally insane. Would you have done the same thing with 30 grams of crack, because apparently it costs more than crack. After spending 16 bucks on a gram of this stuff, if I spilled 30 grams I’d treat it like I just dropped all the crack I needed to pay my pimp.\* Thirty grams of saffron will make your dish smell like a flower garden. That is WAY WAY WAY overpowering. I love the color and gentle taste of saffron, but I can only take it in very small pinches. It is definitely a case of a little goes a long way. I somehow really doubt that was saffron added to the dish. Most likely, it was safflower, especially if [it looked like this.](http://www.custompaper.com/Images/flowers/safflower.jpg) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-cost-me-16-bucks-saffron/484510.md?page=1)