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SAFFRON, a bulbous autumnal plant(Crocus sativus) and a commercial dye-stuffobtained from it. The cultivated saffronoriginated probably in the Levant, and was grownin early times about the town of Corycus,Cilicia (from which theCrocus genus may havetaken its name). The Arabs cultivated it inSpain about the 10th century, and it was animportant crop in England, especially aboutSaffron Walden, Essex, in the 15th century, bringingthe highest market price. It is now raisedabout the Mediterranean and in Asia. Thesaffron is low, with the grass-like leaves andlong-tubed, funnel-shaped flowers, springingdirectly from the ground, which are characteristicof the crocuses. Its flower is purple, witha style tipped with three orange-colored stigmas,each more than an inch long, depending fromone side of the perianth. These stigmas arepicked off in the early morning and dried on akiln, either loosely or between layers of paper,and under the pressure of a thick board whichforms the mass into cakes, about 4,000 of thesestigmas being necessary to give an ounce ofsaffron. In either case the commercial saffronis liable to suffer from adulteration. Thisadulteration was so prevalent at one time thatthose guilty of it (when caught) were killed
Saffron stigmas, when genuine, have acharacteristic orange red color and an aromatic,bitter odor and taste. The substance has faintcarminative and narcotic properties, but isseldom used medicinally, except for coloringtinctures and occasionally as a diaphoretic in theeruptive diseases of children. In the ‘Song ofSolomon’ the saffron is mentioned among thesweet-smelling herbs, and it was much indemand among the Greeks and Latins for itsperfume. A fragrant essence was made from itwith water and wine for sprinkling in theatresand other places, even in the streets, for anointingthe hair and for the bath. Saffron was alsomuch employed in culinary operations, chieflyfor its aromatic taste and for coloring, as theclown in the ‘Winter's Tale’ says he “must havesaffron to color the warden pies.”
Saffron, however, is most commonly used asa dye, giving a yellow hue to cloth, but it isbeing displaced by cheaper colors. This tintwas in very early times the royal color inGreece, and was that of some of the women'scourt robes, but afterward appropriated by thehetairæ. In Ireland and the Hebrides it wasalso the color of the king's mantle and of theshirts of persons of rank. Saffron enterslargely into the composition of the sacred spoton the forehead of a Hindu Pundit. Anextract made from saffron used as a glaze ontinfoil, imitated gold in mediæval illuminations,and was also employed by painters.
