How To Use Saffron For Different Purposes!

Saffron is considered as one of the best spices all over the world and rightly so. For one thing, it’s the most expensive of all spices and for another, it has a lot of health benefits. The reason for the high cost of Saffron is because the threads are obtained from the stigma of a special flower known as saffron crocus, plus the harvesting of the spice is done manually. However, just a little bit of saffron can suffice for any intended purpose and saffron seasoning doesn’t a cost a lot more than other seasonings.

In order to release the amazing and unique flavour of saffron, you will have to crush and then soak them. Even though saffron threads are not strong and can easily be crushed with your fingers, if you want a more uniform saffron powder, you will need to make use of mortar and pestle. Nevertheless, make sure that before crushing saffron threads, you measure them. A pinch of saffron should be around 20 medium threads of saffron.

Your best bet for extracting saffron’s flavour is by soaking the threads in hot water for around 10 – 20 min (not boiling water). Afterwards, add both the saffron together with the liquid to your recipe.

Using Saffron in Food:

You can use saffron in different types of dishes such as stews, soups, salad dressings and just about any other recipe with lots of liquid. When adding saffron to your recipe, just add the already crushed threads of saffron along with the other ingredients. You can soak the crushed saffron threads before adding them to the recipe for a deeper flavour. If you’re cooking foods like rice that doesn’t have enough moisture, you can mix the crushed saffron with little water before adding to the dish.

Using Saffron in Facial Masks for Skin Treatment

Most facial masks or pastes have liquid style ingredients. So simply crush the saffron threads and mix them together with the rest of the other ingredients you already have for the mask preparation.

Using Saffron in Drinks:

You can use saffron in your drinks as well. If you want your drinks to have crushed pieces of saffron, then mix them in a little warm water and add to your drink. If you don’t want any part of those pieces and want only the smell, color and taste, then you may want to make use of a sieve to remove the pieces when you have your desired color.