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At that time, the saffron became Gâtinais' Red Gold

Crocus sativus | Liné1 / CC-BY-SA
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What’s this?

This spice comes from Asia and the Middle East. In France, they cultivated it in Loiret since the 16th century!

The saffron is a bulb plant, with a nice violet flower full of stigmas, kind of thin red filaments: the only workable part of the flower, which gives the saffron spice!

Saffron is rare, so very expensive: picking and peeling take time (200 000 flowers = 1 kg of saffron)!

The little history

Primitively, the saffron was cultivated in Boynes, in Loiret. Then, the culture spreads all over the area: Pithiviers, Montargis, Boiscommun...

Then it declined in the 19th century. And yet, in 1987, a horticultural school reintroduced it in Loiret! A Saffron museum even opened in Boynes in 1997.

But where did this kind of saffron come from? A lord from Boynes, sir Pocquaire, introduced the saffron in the country: he was a knight who brought it back from Crusades, in the 13th century!

About the the author

Vinaigrette
I'm fond of strolls and History, with juicy and spicy details!