The best saffron money can buy

Experience our saffron
Our saffron is the purity itself. It is hand-picked from the fields of the Khorasan region, Iran. Known as the best cultivation region for saffron in the world.
The reason that makes this spice so expensive is the labor-intensive process that underlies it. After the harvest (which takes place at the end of October to mid-November), the petals of the saffron crocus are manually separated from the styles and stigmas (being the saffron threads). The stigmas are then selected and dried in a natural way, a process in which they lose 80% of their weight. This process also induces various modifications in terms of color, flavor and aroma that takes place in the spice.
Imagine that takes more than 150 flowers — each with just three stigmas — to produce just one gram of saffron. Let alone what it takes to produce a kilo of saffron and the patience it requires from the workers.
With this in mind, saffron is most commonly used to add a distinct, yet subtle flavor (and colour) to dishes (and drinks) to enhance their taste. It is undeniably one of the most used ingredients in the middle east, especially in Iran.
To bring the Persian cuisine closer to home, we at ZARAGIN strive to let our customers discover and experience the premium quality of our saffron. Check out our blogs for recipes full of delicious inspiration in terms of dishes (and more).
Unparalleled quality
Based on international standards (ISO 3632), our saffron far exceeds the “Grade 1” standards — which represents the best quality of saffron.
When saffron is examined more closely, crocin, picocrocin and safranal are the main components of a (dried) stigma. Being the upper part of the pistil of the saffron crocus, the Crocus sativus.
Crocin gives the characteristic yellow-red color to saffron, whereby picocrocine and safranal are responsible for the bitterness and aroma of the saffron respectively. In that context, the higher these values are, the better quality the saffron is.
That being said, when the quality of our saffron is expressed in values and compared to the prevailing standards, our saffron can be defined as the very best in its class. This is confirmed in the table below, which shows that unparalleled quality is paramount at ZARAGIN.
ISO-3632-2 |
SAFRANUM |
GRADE I |
GRADE II |
GRADE III |
GRADE IV |
Crocine |
296 |
190 |
150 |
110 |
80 |
Picocrocine |
37 |
20-50 |
20-50 |
20-50 |
20-50 |
Safranal |
100 |
70 |
55 |
40 |
30 |
