How I grow Saffron
It’s humbling to learn how the flower of a small corm produces the most expensive spice in the world – and that I can grow it here! Only Crocus sativus, an autumnflowering crocus, produces the high-quality spice, saffron. Although they grow well outdoors in the ground, the soil on my plot is heavy clay, and we have colonies of squirrels that do not leave any crocus alone, so I prefer using terracotta pots in the greenhouse. I picked up my corms in late August and planted them in a very gritty, free-draining, loam-based compost. Then, I just watered them and left the pots in the greenhouse to do their thing. I don’t water them very much after that. Through September and October green blade-like leaves appear from each corm. As the outdoor temperatures drop, this triggers two or three flowers to start forming in the centre of each plant. As soon as the flower opens, I pick up my tweezers and pluck the precious red stigmas out, laying them on a paper towel in the warmth of the kitchen to dry out completely, and later storing them in a small jam jar. When you open the lid after a few days, there’s a sweet, spicy aroma – a pleasant fragrance that I always enjoy. By spring the plants die back. I simply take the dormant corms out and store them in the shed away from direct sunlight, ready for planting again in late August.
ALSO TRY
Although there aren’t different species of saffron-producing crocus to grow apart from Crocus sativus, I have come across a white saffron crocus, which I am yet to get hold of and grow, called Crocus sativus ‘Albus’. These produce silky white petals, in contrast to the usual lilac-purple colour.