Saffron Maison · United Arab Emirates

The Journal

Notes fromthe counter.

What to do with saffron once you own it, what to send and when to order it, and a note from the house each time a lot is certified.

Three saffron threads in a glass of room-temperature water, releasing a slow golden plume while the threads stay red

Proof & grading

How to tell real saffron from fake

Three threads, a glass of room-temperature water, ten minutes. Real saffron colours the water slowly and the thread stays red. Plus the rub, the smell, the shape and the shake, and the five things to read on a label before you pay.

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Proof & grading

What is saffron?

Three red stigmas per flower, taken out by hand. Why a gram takes about a hundred and fifty flowers, what a good thread looks like, and what threads, powder and extract each do.

7 min read

Proof & grading

Super Negin vs Negin vs Sargol

Four grade names plus bunch, all answering one question: how much of the pale yellow base of the thread is still in the jar. Which to buy for what, and why the name on the label proves nothing.

6 min read

The kitchen

How to use saffron

Fifteen to twenty threads serve four, and they need twenty minutes in warm liquid first. Dosage by dish, what to bloom it in, how to store it, and the five mistakes.

8 min read

Not a post, a reference

The grades, the standard and the water test are kept in one place, and kept current.

Open the Grading School See the lab reports