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.