For the first post of 2025, an exploration of saffron via the New York Times:
...In 2021, Peace and Plenty harvested 700,000 flowers, which yielded about 3.5 kilograms of saffron. Ms. Price sold it to home cooks, and to chefs.
...Despite her success, Ms. Price now cultivates a smaller saffron crop. She has battled weeds and aggressive gophers. Harvesting saffron is backbreaking work. First, the tiny flowers are picked on hands and knees in the dark; saffron crocuses are best harvested before the sun rises and the flowers open. Then each stigma must be meticulously removed by hand.
“I was doing one flower per five seconds at my fastest, which sounds good,” she said. “But when you have 50,000 to do, it’s daunting.”
$10,000/kilogram for the global price, wow! Pretty interesting - read the whole thing.
