{"id":14220,"date":"2012-09-22T02:55:48","date_gmt":"2012-09-22T09:55:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/?p=14220"},"modified":"2012-09-22T02:55:48","modified_gmt":"2012-09-22T09:55:48","slug":"grow-crocus-sativus-for-saffron","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/flowers\/grow-crocus-sativus-for-saffron\/","title":{"rendered":"Grow &#8216;Crocus sativus&#8217; for Saffron"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/kightp\/275765829\/\" title=\"Saffron crocus by kightp, on Flickr\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm1.staticflickr.com\/79\/275765829_084498783d.jpg\" width=\"500\" height=\"377\" alt=\"Saffron crocus\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The expensive spice Saffron is made from the stamen of Crocus sativus.<\/p>\n<h3>What is Crocus sativus<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Crocus sativas is an autumn flowering corm from the Iridaceae and crocus family.<\/li>\n<li>The flowers are deep blue and the stigmas dark red or saffron coloured.<\/li>\n<li>Crocus sativus throws up a spear of green leaves only after flowering.<\/li>\n<li>Corms are cheap to buy and reproduction is by corm division. This crocus is infertile.<\/li>\n<li>There are only 3 stigma to a flower so it takes 100,000 blooms to make a pound of saffron. This accounts for Saffron being worth more than gold weight for weight.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>How to Grow Crocus sativus<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Crocus sativus grow best in full sunlight. <\/li>\n<li>I have just planted some corms in deep pots with good drainage and a bit of rotted bark to keep the compost open.<\/li>\n<li>Raised beds would be another way of growing Saffron so harvesting and drainage problems are minimised.<\/li>\n<li>Growing &#8216;Crocus sativus&#8217; for a Saffron crop you need to collect the threads in the morning and dry the saffron.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.awin1.com\/cread.php?awinmid=2283&amp;awinaffid=81944&amp;clickref=&amp;p=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thompson-morgan.com\/plants1\/search.html?section=all&amp;search=saffron\">You can buy Crocus sativus from Thompson &amp; Morgan<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/notafish\/105529000\/\" title=\"Saffron whole close up by notafish, on Flickr\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm1.staticflickr.com\/53\/105529000_a04cd1ee73.jpg\" width=\"500\" height=\"351\" alt=\"Saffron whole close up\"><\/a><\/p>\n<h3>How to Use  Saffron<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Saffron from Crocus sativus has been used for centuries to flavour and colour food.<\/li>\n<li>It has been cultivated by Greeks, Romans and Chinese for 3500 years and is now a cash crop in Afghanistan, Kashmir and Spain.<\/li>\n<li>The Chinese use it as a medicine, in food and as a dye. <\/li>\n<li>Crocus sativus is a brightly coloured but short lived flower in the rockery at the end of summer or early autumn<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>For <a href=\"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/flowers\/plant-autumn-crocus\/\">other Autumn crocus<\/a><\/p>\n<p><em><br \/>\n<strong>Photo Credits<\/strong><br \/>\nSaffron crocus by kightp CC BY-NC 2.0  &#8216;<strong>Crocus sativus<\/strong>. The red stigmas seen on the left bloom are the more-precious-than-gold &#8230;..  Stigmas have already been plucked from the bloom on the right. The half-dozen corms planted in my front garden bed three years ago have multiplied to the point where I&#8217;ve harvested nearly a tablespoon of threads this year &#8211; enough for several risottos, paellas and other dishes in the months ahead.&#8217;<br \/>\nSaffron whole close up by notafish CC BY-SA 2.0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I am just wild about Saffron and grow Crocus sativus to be able to harvest a light weight crop of this great spice. Corms are relatively cheap to buy which is just as well as  reproduction is only by corm division as saffron is infertile<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14224,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[24,264],"class_list":["post-14220","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-flowers","tag-bulbs","tag-spice"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14220","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14220"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14220\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14224"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenerstips.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}