Market Survey
By: T. AMBIKA
The Many Uses of Saffron
The world is willing to pay a high price for Kashmiri saffron. Therefore this spice has the
potential to play a big role in improving the standards of living in Jammu and Kashmir,
which tops the list of saffron growing states in India. Read on to learn a bit more about this
king of spices.
The Indian trade
Kashmir is one of the biggest saffron producing areas in India. The
quality of Kashmiri saffron spices
is as good as that of Iran and thus
is highly sought after in the international market. The Sangla Valley
in Himachal Pradesh has the ideal
agro-climatic conditions to grow
saffron plants. Therefore it is being
explored as the next major Indian
production centre for saffron.
Uses of saffron
affron is the most expensive spice in the world
and native to Southwest
Asia. However, it is said
to have been cultivated
in Greece first. The saffron spice is
dried, and then sold as a food and
beverage colourant and seasoning.
The high cost of this spice is due to
the difficulty in manually extracting
the large number of minute stigmas
from the flower.
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FACTS FOR YOU
August 2013
Global trade
Iran, Spain, India, Greece, Azerbaijan, Morocco and Italy are major
saffron producing countries. Saffron
is also used for fabric dyeing in China and India. Germany, Italy, USA,
Switzerland, UK and France are the
largest saffron importing countries.
Iran and Spain produce approximately 85 per cent of the worlds
crop.
Food seasoning. Saffron has
been traditionally used to colour and
flavour a number of Indian and middle-eastern dishes and beverages.
Colouring agent. It is popular
as a food and beverage colouring
agent.
Medicinal uses. Saffron is
used in both traditional medicine
and modern medicine systems. Its
cancer-suppressing, mutation-preventing, immuno-modulating, and
antioxidant-like properties make it
useful in the formulation of quite a
few medicines.
The origin of saffron
According to some historical
sources, saffron was brought to India by the Persian rulers around 500
Market Survey
BC. They transplanted the Persian
saffron crocus corms to Kashmiri
soil, once they conquered the region.
Chinese historical accounts, on the
other hand, claim that an Indian
Buddhist missionary named Madhyantika (or Majjhantika) sowed
Kashmirs first saffron crop in the
5th century BC. Saffron cultivation
and use are believed to have spread
through the Indian sub-continent
from Kashmir. The huge popularity of saffron during that time made
it the official colour for Buddhist
robes and mantles, immediately
after the death of Lord Buddha.
Other historical sources also mention that the Phoenicians began cultivating saffron in India during the
6th century BC and marketed Kashmiri saffron across other parts of the
world utilising their extensive trade
routes.
Saffron has been used regularly
for anointing Lord Gomateshwara
(the Jain deity in Shravanabelagola, Karnataka), as part of the Mahamastakabhisheka festival, since
978-993 AD. However, according to
local Kashmiri legend, saffron was
brought to the region by two Sufi
ascetics, Khwaja Masood Wali and
Hazrat Sheikh Shariffudin, during
the 11th and 12th centuries AD. A
golden-domed shrine and tomb dedicated to these saints can be found in
the saffron-trading village of Pampore, India, even today. However, famous Kashmir poet and scholar Mohammed Yusuf Teng differed with
this history of saffron, and stated
that the plant had been cultivated
in Kashmir for more than two millennia. The Kashmiri Tantric Hindu
epics of that period also mention saffron cultivation.
Saffron cultivation
Saffron is a small bulbous perennial plant with the botanical name
of Crocus sativus Linn. The low
growing plant reaches a height of 15
Saffron threads
to 25 cm, and has an underground
globular corm. It is mainly cultivated for its large, scented, blue or
lavender flowers. The flowers of the
saffron plant have divided, orangecoloured stigmas, which along with
the style-tops yield the saffron that
is traded. The flowering period of
saffron starts during the middle of
or late October, and lasts only until
the first or second week of November. However, the number of saffron
flowers and when they bloom in any
year are dependent upon the temperature prevalent in spring and
autumn, and upon the amount of
rainfall.
During harvesting or plucking of
flowers, the weather should be cool.
So this process is completed early
in the morning. Sunrise to 10 am
is perceived to be the ideal time for
flower plucking. After harvesting,
the flowers are dried for five days.
Afterwards, they are kept in an airy
container so that the quality of the
produce does not deteriorate. Nowadays, solar driers are also used. It
takes only seven to eight hours to
dry the produce.
Saffron is known by different
names in various Indian languag-
A Few Details
about Saffron
Indian name
Botanical name
Family name
Iridaceae
Habitat
: Kesar
: Crocus sativus
: Iridaceae
: Stigma
: Southwest Asia
es. In Sanskrit, the plant is called
Keshara, Kunkuma, Aruna, Asra
and Asrika. The Hindi and Punjabi names for the plant are Zaffran
and Kesar, and it is called Zaffran
in Bengali. The Gujaratis know the
plant as Keshar, while in Kannada it
is called Kunkuma Kesari. In Kashmiri, saffron is known as Kong and
the Marathis call it Kesar and Kesara. While it is called Kungumapu in
Tamil, the Telugu name for saffron
is Kunkumapuva. In Urdu it is popular as Zaffran and Jafranekar.
The cultivation of saffron is a traditional art. In India, 5707 hectares
of land come under its cultivation. Its
annual production is around 16,000
kilograms. The state of Jammu and
Kashmir tops the list of saffron growing states in India. Out of the total
area under its cultivation, 4496 hectares are in Jammu and Kashmir.
August 2013
FACTS FOR YOU
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Market Survey
Even globally, Kashmir is considered one of the three most prominent areas for cultivation of saffron.
The state of Himachal Pradesh is
also now emerging as a premium
zone for saffron in India. The ideal
environment for cultivation of saffron is a cool dry climate, and rich
soil with excellent drainage and organic content. India is one of the
premium producers and exporters
of top-grade coupe saffron. Most of
Indias output is consumed domestically. There are three grades of saffron available in the Indian market,
which are known as Shahi saffron
Mogra saffron, and Lachha saffron.
Other uses of saffron
Saffron has many uses in India.
Apart from its role as a flavouring and colouring agent, in ancient
times, the Kashmiri saffron was used
as a fabric dye and also for treating
depression.
Its carminative (suppressing of
cramps and flatulence) and emmenagogic (enhancing pelvic blood flow)
properties have led to its extensive
use in Indian medicine. It is also
used as a herbal medicine for curing
respiratory infections and disorders
like coughs and common colds, scarlet fever, and asthma. It is used in
treatment of other health disorders
like insomnia, paralysis, heart diseases, gout, chronic uterine haemorrhage, dysmenorrheal, amenorrhea, baby colic and eye disorders.
Saffron is also used as a perfume.
Our country has made great
strides in the field of social and
economic development since Independence. We have achieved a lot
in agriculture and horticulture. But
there is still an urgent need of taking
concrete steps at the grass root level
so that people dependent on agriculture and horticulture profit more
from their professions.
Nobody can deny the fact that
agriculture has an important role to
play in the economy of Jammu and
Kashmir. Eighty per cent of the population of this state lives in villages
and depends on agriculture.
The state cannot progress unless
the economic condition of this vast
majority improves and the standard
of living of people gets enhanced. Agriculture itself is a vast field. Its like
a tree which has endless branches.
One among them is related to saffron cultivation.
The author is assistant professor in
Commerce, Kaamadhenu Arts & Science
College, Sathyamangalam, Erode (Dist)
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