MY KITCHEN IN SPAIN: SAFFRON SEASON

The saffron harvest has begun! From the top of October via the primary of November is the season of the saffron harvest in La Mancha (central Spain). 

Saffron is a star ingredient in my new cookbook, FLAVORS OF AL-ANDALUS, The Culinary Legacy of Spain. Its use was widespread through the Moorish period of medieval Spain. Additionally, contemplate this, earlier than Columbus’s voyages of discovery, there was no pimentón (paprika), the nice and cozy and colourful spice made from floor peppers. Saffron was the entire shebang. 

For the Andalusíes, the colour of ready meals was as necessary as its taste. The golden hue of saffron, a spice recognized since Biblical occasions, was particularly esteemed. The Arabs launched it to the Iberian Peninsula as early because the ninth century. The phrase for saffron in Spanish, azafrán, comes from the Arabic za‘farān which in flip derives from the outdated Persian phrase denoting a golden thread. 

Saffron consists of the dried stigmas of a small, mauve-colored, autumn-blooming crocus. It takes the tiny stigmas of 75,000 crocus sativus to make a half-kilo of the spice. Saffron, used medicinally and as a dye in addition to in cooking, grew to become the flavour of standing in medieval delicacies. It has been grown in Spain’s central La Mancha area ever since.

A subject of saffron seems to be like nothing—clumps of muddy clay soil, stones, a couple of weeds—till you look nearer and see the tiny flowers popping up from naked earth. Choosing begins from the time the primary few saffron flowers start poking up via the filth and continues each day. 

The saffron flowers have to be hand-picked early within the morning, earlier than the petals open. As soon as warmed by the solar, the flowers open and turn out to be limp, making it tougher to take away the stigmas. 

Crates crammed with saffron crocuses are delivered to the mondaderas, the ladies who extract the three threads of the stigma from every crocus. The stigmas have to be eliminated the identical day that the flowers are picked or the flowers turn out to be pulpy and the valuable stigmas are misplaced.

As soon as the saffron filaments are separated from the flowers they have to be calmly toasted to cut back their humidity and to protect their colour and olfactory properties. The saffron is unfold in sieves to dry over electrical heating parts or, within the outdated manner, over a brazier.

Historically, saffron manufacturing was a small, household enterprise, with every household planting not more than what its members might decide and course of in a day—early morning within the fields, afternoon on the mondeo, the night time tending the braziers for the drying operation.

Saffron thrives in only some scattered areas within the provinces of Toledo, Cuenca, Albacete, and Ciudad Actual. Saffron grown on this area that meets high quality specs will be licensed with the Denomination of Origin Saffron of La Mancha (DOP Azafrán de la Mancha). DO certification promotes product high quality and helps to maintain the deeply rooted customs and foodways of small growers in La Mancha. Nonetheless, in recent times the market has been flooded by Iranian saffron, which will be produced significantly cheaper than the Spanish.

As a result of it’s so valued, saffron has lengthy been an ingredient in particular meals, these served on fiesta days, for weddings and baptisms. In humble properties cooks as soon as used synthetic yellow coloring for la comida amarilla, the “yellow meal,” producing shiny yellow paellas and not using a wisp of true saffron. Nowdays they use actual saffron plus pimentón. 

When cooking with saffron, crush the threads in a mortar (or, use the butt-end of a knife to crush it in a teacup) and add scorching water or different liquid. Let the saffron infuse for at the very least 10 minutes earlier than incorporating it right into a sauce or rice. It’s additionally acceptable apply to sprinkle threads of saffron proper into scorching oil and allow them to toast briefly.

Saffron as an ingredient seems in lots of the recipes in Flavors of al-Andalus. Listed here are only a few: Cauliflower with Almond Sauce; Artichokes Córdoba Model; Vegetable Paella; Fideo Noodles with Octopus; Nation-Model Rice Cazuela, and Rooster in Almond Sauce are only a few. 

Listed here are hyperlinks to some of the recipes with saffron which have beforehand appeared in these weblog posts:

You can see a half-dozen paella recipes–all with saffron–in the blogs. (Use the Search window within the higher left nook of the weblog. If that is not seen on a cell phone, go to the top of the weblog and swap to “view internet model.” You will see the search window on the high.) 

This recipe is just not paella, however arroz caldoso, soupy rice with hen, greens, saffron, and completed with an almond picata. 

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FLAVORS OF AL-ANDALUS 

The Culinary Legacy of Spain

 Ask for Flavors of al-Andalus out of your favourite bookseller or click on beneath to order. 

This cookbook explores the fascinating story of the deep and lasting influences that Islamic tradition has left on fashionable Spanish cooking. 

Creator and Spanish cooking skilled Janet Mendel tells the story of the Moorish affect on Spanish cooking via 120 recipes and pictures for modern-day dishes, from salads and greens to fish, poultry and meat to sweets and pastries, that hint their heritage to meals served in medieval occasions. Dishes from this period embrace unique spices equivalent to saffron, the usage of fruits and almonds with savory dishes, and honeyed sweets and pastries. The flavors of al-Andalus dwell on in fashionable Spanish cooking and are what makes Spain’s delicacies distinctive from the remainder of Europe. (Hippocrene Books)    

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