History of Saffron

Saffron comes from the plateaus of Anatolia and from this Asian peninsula it spread to the rest of world, favoured largely by Arabs, who took advantage of the legendary “Silk Route” in their commercial transactions with the Orient (India, China, Thailand) and the “Mare Nostrum” of the Romans, to transfer this spice to the West, arriving on the Iberian Peninsula in the VIII and IX centuries during the Caliphate of Cordoba, thereafter taking but a short time to spread throughout the majority of the Al-Andalus territories.

The name of saffron comes from the Arabs; they called it safarán, which means “to be yellow”.

EGYPT:  Ancient Egyptians, in their banquets, tended to surround the edges of their glasses with saffron flowers and they also used it to embalm their pharaohs, as they associated this spice with powers from the Great Beyond.

OLD TESTAMENT:  Makes reference to the Hebrews purifying holy water with saffron.

GREECE:  According to Greek mythology, saffron received its name from a youth called Croco, who was subsequently transformed into the plant by the Gods.

Another Greek legend tells how the origin of this plant was due to the God Hermes, Greek god of fire, who having unintentionally fatally injured his friend Croscos, turned the blood that flowed from his head into little flowers with bright and colourful red stigmas.

Hippocrates, the father of Medicine, did not hesitate to include saffron in his formulas and Homer in his Iliad states that the heroes and nymphs were dressed with saffron tunics.

The ancient Greeks tended to scatter saffron in theatres to perfume them, the colour saffron was the colour of kings and women used it to dye their clothes.

ROME:  The ancient Romans used saffron in their baths, and the same as the Greeks, reclined on cushions filled with saffron because they thought to therefore avoid hangovers.  The Greeks already used it against drunkenness, attempting to delay getting drunk through infusions of saffron which were taken prior to indulging in the pleasures of the god Bacchus, as well as considering this species to be a powerful and proven aphrodisiac.

Saffron was scattered in the streets of Rome when Nero made his triumphant entrance into the capital of the Empire, as tradition dictated.

Courtesans in the imperial age used it as a beauty product.

Saffron was even put in the water of canaries in a bid to improve their plumage.

THE ORIENT:  After the death of Buddha, his disciples established saffron as the official colour of their tunics.  There, saffron is a symbol of wisdom and, as such, forms part of Buddhist rituals.

Links with the geography of La Mancha

Saffron was introduced to Spain during the Arabic domination.  During the VIII and IX centuries it was a product monopolised by the upper bourgeoisie of Andalusia. Arabic cuisine was prodigious in herbal condiments, and therefore all crops included seedbeds of these plants, principally cumin, caraway, blackseed, cress, sweet aniseed, fennel, wild anise, coriander, mustard, mint and parsley.  But the most important condiment for the Muslim economy was saffron, used as a colouring and essential seasoning in most dishes.

Subsequently, there is written evidence of the cultivation of saffron in La Mancha in the book “Cultivation of saffron in La Solana” by J.A. Lopez de la Osa, of 1897, which includes details about this crop from one hundred years earlier, quoting a legal inventory from 1720 in which saffron also appears.

In the first third of the XIX century, La Mancha produced the best quality saffron in Spain, achieving the highest output per hectare on dry land.  Its immemorial cultivation in Pedro Muñoz, Campo de Criptana and Manzanares (Ciudad Real), in Lillo, Madridejo, Villacañas, Villanueva de Alcardete and Cabezamesada (Toledo) and in Motilla del Palancar (Cuenca) has been extensively documented.

But the best proof of the existence of a strong historical link between the crop and the region of La Mancha lies in the many cultural manifestations that are traditional in this area.

Like all activities strongly entrenched within a society, the cultivation of saffron led to unique vocabulary of great wealth; the work of M. Nuñez and J.C. Conde, “The lexicon of saffron in the speech of La Mancha” (Al-Basit.  Journal of Studies of Albacete, 28.  Albacete 1991) includes a wide range of expressions referring to saffron and picked up from surveys carried out in the province of Albacete.

The tradition of saffron cultivation in La Mancha is also present in manifestations of the typical folklore of the region, with a La Mancha “jota” (dance) dedicated to this product, it being mentioned in songs and proverbs, and saffron being the setting for the operetta entitled “The saffron rose” (Libretto by F. Romero and G. Fernandez Show; and music from the maestro Jacinto Guerrero, performed for the first time in Madrid in 1930).

Also worthy of note is the existence of dissemination manuals on cultivation and production techniques, such as the afore-mentioned  work by J.A. López de la Osa, or the work of L. Jimenez Martín “The Practical Saffron Grower” (Albacete: Eduardo Miranda Printers, 1900).

The relevance of this crop as part of cultural tradition is once again manifest in the Saffron Rose Festival held in Consuegra (Toledo), always on the last weekend in October, the pruning contests held in La Solana (Ciudad Real) within the framework of the patron saint festivities and the Saffron Rose Festival of Santa Ana (Albacete).

Finally, as a significant example of the traditional nature and economic importance of this crop, it is worth noting the custom, which still exists in some villages of La Mancha, of giving a few strands of saffron to brides and grooms as a symbol of the desire for prosperity.