Discovering saffron farms in France

Open House at the saffron farm

We spent a lovely sunny autumn afternoon visiting a local saffron farm  (la safranière) near Bordeaux.  The owners not only spent a lot of time with us explaining their product, but , as they  were also vignerons, offered a tasting of the local wines. 

charming and very generous hosts

It is thought that saffron was brought to France by the Romans but it’s cultivation died out with the decline of the roman empire. It returned with the Moors through Spain but was again affected by phylloxera in the mid 19th century  along with the vines. Now it is again grown all over the country.

unusual decorations in the fields

Handpicking takes place in late autumn and must be done in the early morning as the flowers wither and the stigmas loose colour and aroma during the day. More than 85,000 flowers are needed to obtain just one kilo of saffron – that’s a lot of hard work.

discarded flowers

We decided to take the saffron jelly, various jams, a salt, an oil spray coloured with saffron and gold flecks for decorating food at Christmas, and a syrop as an alternative to cassis for a kir. Who knew that saffron is so versatile. Now armed with their collection of recipes, we will be experimenting during the winter. Expect lots of orange food ! 

As an alternative to wine, wine, wine, this was an interesting diversion worth making.

www.terrasafran.com

Bon degustation !