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Saffron Threads thread

post #1 of 5
5/5/09 at 2:13pm
Thread Starter 
I'm starting this thread to ask one question:
When did saffron take such a big jump in price?
I had purchased a 1 oz tin from Sysco in '05 -'07 (a few tins actually, over time) for $27 or less.
It didn't vary but a few dollars an ounce over those few years.
I didn't have much use for it until recently, and bought another tin for.....$192.40 :eek:
What happened?
A flood?
A drought?
Someone tromped all over a field of Crocus?
Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
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post #2 of 5
5/5/09 at 4:04pm
It's been going steadily up the past two years, Jim.

I usually buy it in those 1-gram tubes. When I first started using a local supplier back in 07 they were seven bucks and change. Now they're almost $15.

Don't know this for sure, but suspect it's, in part, a supply problem. Technically it is illegal for us to import Iranian safron. So, by and large, we're stuck with Spanish, and that's been in tight supply due to growing conditions.

More and more I've been using turmeric when all I need is the color; such as in the mushroom risotto I made this evening.
They have taken the oath of the brother in blood, in leavened bread and salt. Rudyard Kipling
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post #3 of 5
5/5/09 at 8:25pm
Wow. 8 months ago the 1 oz tin from Sysco was $102. I'm glad I don't have to worry about it anymore.

Lee
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post #4 of 5
5/19/09 at 8:07am
I had no idea there was a ban on Iranian saffron. My brother's boss is Iranian and brings me a packet every time he goes to visit family. I wondered why I never found it in stores. It seems to be a superior product.
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post #5 of 5
5/19/09 at 3:24pm
The stuff my husband bought me in the spice market in Dubai last year weighed just under 8 ounces It filled a regular sized ziplock sandwich bag and he paid just under the equivalent of £100. $140

I was sure it must be some kind of fake at that price, but its lovely. I gave 1/2 to my son whos a chef in london and he loves it. I'll never use it all, so i give some away to my foodie friends
"If we're not supposed to eat animals, why are they made of meat?" Jo Brand
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