Table of Contents
- Saffron Obsession: Is it Just me or…
- The Origin Story: More Than Just Red Threads.
- Ethics, Like… What Actually Are They?
- “Organic”: The Greenwash Maze.
- Small Farmers vs. Big Business: Why I care all of the Sudden.
- Fair Trade: Not just for coffee beans anymore!
- Buying Direct, Is it that hard? (spoiler-it kinda is).
- Questions about Certification- What do they all mean???
- Tips to not totally get scammed buying real stuff.
- Personal Thoughts: Why does my kitchen sink ALWAYS get filled with dishes right after i cook
- My (Still in Progress) Saffron Adventure.
- Conclusion: We can All eat better, right?
Article
1. Saffron Obsession: Is it Just me or…
Buy High-Quality Saffron. Enjoy 75% OFF - Limited Time Offer
Hours Minutes Seconds
-
Only 2 units left on our site
-
Only 4 units left on our site
-
Only 5 units left on our site
-
Only 6 units left on our site
-
Only 1 units left on our site
-
Only 3 units left on our site
Buy High-Quality Saffron. Enjoy 75% OFF - Limited Time Offer
- Only 2 units left on our site
- Only 4 units left on our site
- Only 5 units left on our site
- Only 6 units left on our site
- Only 1 units left on our site
- Only 3 units left on our site
Let’s be real, saffron has kinda been a Thing™ for a while now. We’ve seen the cooking shows, you see all that beautiful yellownish/red coloring? Makes food seem fancier right? Not just me? Anyway, for me, I think it was seeing this old film. One day i’m making pasta and im throwing a lil of the ole “fancy powder”, and its so bright orange, so intensely that i thought… ‘hold on is this real gold we’re talkin about here?!’. Okay maybe not gold, but maybe a better food product? Before this, its was just “this cool-looking stuff that I sometimes add to my paella”. Turns out, though, the reality about saffron cultivation and distribution is a tad… let’s just call it “complicated,” . This has, believe or not, started to bug me way more then it maybe should…and led me down a real rabbitt hole…
2. The Origin Story: More Than Just Red Threads.
Okay, history class time ( kinda). Saffron isn’t something you find growing wild. Its these tiny flower called a Crocus sativus – yeah, you heard right- all scientific and stuff.. It gets hand picked. Each flower only gives us three teensy little red stigmas. These little guys that turn up, into those orange or reddish threads and what give our dishes this gorgeous colors. That’s why saffron’s always so darn expensive- it’s seriously labor intensive. That’s like, super mind-blowing. Thinking about it, some farmer somwhere, spent ages and picked hundreds of flowers JUST so I could have saffron risotto??? The thing that really bothers me? What is this farmers’ life like? And am i enabling that if i pick up some mystery saffron bag?
3. Ethics, Like… What Actually Are They?
“Ethical Sourcing,” it’s one of those buzz phrases, but what’s it all even mean? Like what is that??? For me personally I think its about whether people making our food get screwed in some type of supply-chain thing- where most of money seems to just stop at middle-man company. When it comes to sourcing saffron ethically its usually means making sure the people working, the farmers actually, don’t get the raw end of the stick, and it also considers environmental damage to nature as much as it can. Like it’s so messed up seeing these huge corporations squeeze everyone who actually has dirty hand while making things for them.
4. “Organic”: The Greenwash Maze.
Okay, here is where the marketing goes mad. Everything these days says “organic”. Saffron gets the label thrown all over. Is all of this actually organic though? Sometimes it just feels like they use “Organic” and the pretty green labels. I get all mixed up- you would too when some company slaps the label with no background and sells this product in big bags on Amazon. “Organic” basically means that the saffron should be made, and grows without pesticides and chemicals, that’s what I thought at first. Right? Well after hours on google it gets trickier. There are certifications! Certifications you can read into!! (don’t be surprised at how bad some can actually be!) Anyway… we all know some people still take shortcuts when it comes to business, I think its really, really hard as consumer to cut out what you need in terms of truth. And to know who to believe with certifications that looks nice but does really does much at all.
5. Small Farmers vs. Big Business: Why I Care All of the Sudden.
So this all makes me think, like how some companies have tons of profits while real farmer cant make ends meet. it is about these poor small farms, the original creators of it all. The people doing the harvesting of saffron have these huge multinationals make huge profits of their tiny product that comes with big expense- it kinda makes me sad to think that sometimes when a product like this reaches us and they barely are paid at the original farm. It isn’t always like this for every food, or is it?
When the actual farmer benefits and gets proper compensation it makes all the difference- why it has all this ethical buzz that its all built up to recently! It’s all so, complicated and layered isn’t it! Buying saffron direct from a family run business in Iran, maybe that one will get the cash into good peoples’ pocket..but… who can afford that much of the premium, with a full cost increase?. Do I go with certified organic, or direct farmer and miss organic. This is all confusing still, at this point…
6. Fair Trade: Not Just for coffee Beans Anymore!
You know fair trade with coffee right? Turns out that label that says “fair-trade”, means a farmer received a fair price for the coffee. Saffron can also be under these same type of regulations! “Fair Trade” is not quite same as “organic” as we already learned. Fair trade helps farmers make livable income and get better working condtions- while all the time, encouraging more enviromental friendly type of work practice, and is important because usually those smaller farms would otherwise have no opportunity to negotiate fair deal by theirselves! I always thought those fancy labels just mean they were overpriced – but now im slowly kinda changing my thinking here… and now seeing it’s like something im supporting a bit better at least.
7. Buying Direct, Is It That Hard? (spoiler- it kinda is).
Buying directly from a farmer does sounds good. Sounds wholesome like some type of earthy ideal life style move doesn’t it?. But to get this actually in hand and from family farmers? its super hard. Some farmer is thousands of miles away… its like some type of dream we all had on the countryside life, right? So do we just forget about it altogether? nooooo.
Finding an authentic farm shop somewhere is difficult for regular people… unless you go out to their part of the world (lol) and that does makes one thing- you see its actually not just that easy thing after all . Like maybe I will go to Morocco one day! Then ill load up my suitcase! But until that day comes, we’re going back to web pages, looking into this all a bit more.. it seems, sigh..
8. Questions About Certification – What do they all mean???
This organic, this fair-trade is driving me crazy with confusion… are we back to trust nothing!?? How do I figure if these logos actually means good business? or its marketing spin?. And like… if you see those “third-party certifiers,”.. does that even help anything? . It’s an utter mess i tell you! I am just tired now…
I looked into “ISO 3632” like my eyes are just spinning looking into this thing….apparently this has to do with testing quality standard and is mostly just measuring colour levels. And a bunch more other names. My eyes feel blurry looking at these long pages, my head is hurting… why do they do this!!!.
9. Tips to not totally get scammed buying real stuff.
Alright listen here.. After all of that internet researching here, its clear this “buying Saffron stuff” isn’t something you do when tired (that I tell ya). So, here is my basic take, here we go:
- Colour first: deep red, or something along that colour… never look pale!.
- The smell test!: this should smell rich. almost with hint of honey in it (who woulda guessed? ). No dull scent, No nothin
– the Price. if something looks WAY too cheap… its probly very bad, sorry!. Its too much labor to grow it for it to have such a small price. It simply just, don’t add up you know?. Do a little research at prices on other locations, or stores just as good start- dont rely solely in your Amazon or whatver store has price there!. - Buy small amounts!: dont throw out a tonne of cash before even tasting what its actually all like. Get a lil’ piece- or just a small jar so when (or If ) you realise this stuff has absolutely zero smell… or whatever that happens!.
10. Personal Thoughts: Why does my kitchen sink ALWAYS get filled with dishes right after i cook
Like… when did the kitchen and cooking start to become so… complicated?. I just feel tired by end of all of this sometimes . I love to eat new type of foods- even try out new recipes like an avid chef or what ever I wanna think I am! but all this knowledge im now starting to see behind all of these types of product makes my brain kinda melt sometimes. Then, suddenly you wake up, and there a HUGE mountain of dishes… this just isnt working.
11. My (Still in Progress) Saffron Adventure.
Okay so its time for me to be really and truly real here… I don’t really have ALL the answers!. Not just like that. All I do right now is just look at all of the labels on products. When I start my purchase I really look closely. Read more! Go to blogs and find more people talking. See what others did!. Right now? all of this researching is still not always so, perfect! its like being on an actual detective drama tv show that I am making at the kitchen of my house, right?!. Maybe when i buy saffron the 20th or maybe 30th time.. it becomes something less confusing but maybe the kitchen mess situation… maybe I still get tired looking into dishes even if Im a super-good informed “saffron eater!”..who knows? ( I need someone to clean that stuff!!)
12. Conclusion: We can all eat better, right?
We started out like “lol its the fancy red/orange powder”, we just chuck it into a plate and that’s it right?. Well, turns out, it ain’t really all that simple!. Buying food ethically and considering enviromental standards as consumers and how to do a good purchase can get to the whole new complex and intense level, right?!, but that’s part of just doing more informed decisions… at the end, of the day… hopefully it gives all a lil bit more purpose, that goes along better then simply just buy the cheapest that you find out there. ( I’m totally working to be better myself!!) Now, anyone want to talk to me how to avoid getting water on my shirt from dishes that happens ALWAYS at least once per kitchen trip?!. Anyone with ideas here?.
Alright! That should provide a solid, though slightly grammatically questionable, base for your WordPress content. Remember to use the format tools, and also it’s good practice, to look through this text for small adjustments you wanna implement here, and there.. But hey if there something this article conveys is… sometimes it isnt about everything perfectly and perfectly allright at all times!… you know? 😉
Good luck!