Saffron growers sow bulbs of gold

HUGE numbers of saffron bulbs are being planted on a farm overlooking the Huon River at Glaziers Bay.

Terry and Nicky Noonan from boutique saffron producer Tas-Saff joined 11 workers planting thousands of bulbs on 0.5ha of prime soil.

“We have 50 beds that are 100m long and two lines in each bed, stretched out that equates to about 10km of bulbs being planted,” Mrs Noonan said.

Saffron is a spice derived from the dried stigma of the flower of the saffron crocus.

Per weight the spice is worth more than gold — up to $11,000/kg — and is also said to have medicinal benefits.

Mr Noonan said Tas-Saff used no chemicals and adopted biodynamic practices to grow the saffron.

“The finest quality saffron, like ours, is painstakingly picked by hand, and last year we picked more than two million individual stigmas or threads as they are sometimes known,” Mr Noonan said.

He said a single gram of saffron could colour, flavour and add aroma to 60 serves of rice.

To extract 1kg of saffron from crocuses, the stigmas of almost a quarter of a million flowers must be picked. Tasmanian saffron flowers over a 40-day period in autumn.

Tas-Saff has ventured into saffron-flavoured gin, working with Rex Burdon from Nonesuch Distillery. The business is also producing honeycomb and Turkish delight flavours with saffron as well as soaps and candles.

The world market for saffron exceeds 200 tonnes a year with an estimated market value of $1 billion.

Iran, with 190 tonnes, is the world’s biggest producer.

Australia imports about 3500kg of saffron annually with a value of $20 million. The national market is growing at about 2.5 per cent a year.