The transcript for this week went live early. This little bonus episode is to fill the gap.
Saffron is the most expensive agricultural product, weight for weight, in Mythic Europe. There’s some question as to how hardy it is: people at the time claimed it grows best in arid climates, but in the 16th century, the centre of saffron growing in Europe was Saffron Walden, slightly south of Cambridge in England. In 1220, it’s Cyprus. Saffron is grown on plantations controlled by Venetian merchants. There are legends concerning how saffron escaped to the west.
The Arabs in Iberia grew it for a while in the 10th century, but in the 13th Century it was introduced into Italy, France and Germany. The stories tend to suggest it was smuggled home in the sword hilts of Crusaders. In the 14th Century it is transferred to England in a cavity within a pilgrim’s staff. Saffron use predates saffron growing in Britain. The Phonecians who traded for tin in Cornwall bought it, and it’s still used in various regional dishes.
Saffron plants have abundant purple flowers. At the centre of each are three stigmas which must be harvested unbroken, so they are all picked by hand. It takes between 70 000 and 250 000 flowers to harvest a pound of saffron. At the lowest number, that’s 10 pounds of saffron to the acre.
Saffron produces a deep yellow dye, which is used for art, as a flavouring and as a cosmetic. I, personally, can’t taste saffron. I’ve tried to make extremely potent saffron tinctures, using both the hot water and acidulated water methods, and I simply can’t taste it. Other people say it has a delicious, earthy taste, completely different from the turmeric which is often used to adulterate it.
Alexander the Great used saffron to blonde his hair. Cleopatra used to bathe in a mixture of saffron and milk, to give her skin an artificial glow. Mystogoguic cults may use large amounts of saffron in their ordeals, such that it is a sacrifice of treasure.
In Germany, particularly, wealthy nuns kept saffron as a stimulant, much as we might keep coffee. It was used it treat melancholy. This ties into the earlier episode on acedia: saffron may be a Ward for the demon that spreads the shattered glass plague.
Games From Folktales 