Saffron is the most expensive spice and saffron is the most valuable plant. It is obtained from the dried stigmata of the Crocus sativus plant. Saffron is popularly known as ‘red gold’. In India, saffron is mainly grown in Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh.
Saffron is mainly used in culinary spices and colours cottage cheese and biryanis. Saffron when cooked has a unique flavour and offers lots of health benefits. That is why saffron has always been a highly prized ingredient. It is used in dishes such as meats, cakes, candies, and bread and saffron is often used commercially in perfumes and cosmetics.
When it comes to medicinal use saffron is used for fever and also in Ayurvedic treatment to cure impotence and infertility. People in India believe that consuming saffron along with milk during pregnancy will bring good colour to the baby.
Jammu and Kashmir is world famous for saffron cultivation today. Yet the saffron plant blooms in autumn and lasts for three weeks and is harvested before sunrise on a sunny day.
