Cooking for the Senses by Jennifer Peace Rhind Gregor Law

Author:Jennifer Peace Rhind,Gregor Law
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780857012517
Publisher: Jessica Kingsley Publishers
Published: 2018-02-03T16:00:00+00:00

Multisensorial

SAFFRON

I confess to a saffron obsession. It all started when I was writing about scent in the natural world, and I ended up spending unhealthy amounts of time with my nose buried in a glass jar of saffron and encouraging others to do the same. It is one of our earliest aromatics and occupied a unique place in the realms of both fragrance and medicine – and we can see this in the beautiful Xeste 3 frescos at ancient Akrotiri, and in the astounding Blue Monkey frescos of Minoan Crete. Over the centuries, its reputation spread far and wide; by the 10th century, saffron was being cultivated in Spain, and by the 14th century considerable quantities were being grown in England. In 1728, the area between Saffron Walden and Cambridge was especially noted for the cultivation of Crocus sativa. My saffron trail took me back in time to the Middle Ages, when nuns scented their veils with it to enhance their prayers and singing and prevent fatigue (they must have been high as kites), and when in Europe it was a legal drug that enhanced the feeling of wellbeing. It heightened and altered sensorial perceptions and even induced hallucinations – but was socially controlled by its high price, and thus only used by elite members of society. Now, I was not aware of entering altered states of consciousness, but I did derive an inordinate amount of pleasure from its scent, and, of course, started to use it rather frequently in cooking! Any excuse, Derek said!

Saffron – the dried stigmas, which are the three dark red ends of the style of Crocus sativa – is the most expensive spice on the planet. This is because it takes 70,000 flowers to produce just 2.25kg of the fresh spice, or just 500g of the dried version. Each flower is harvested by hand and this must happen on the day that the flowers open in late autumn. OK, it is an expensive habit, but, as we shall see, it is worth it!

Saffron gives a glorious apricot-yellow colour to dishes thanks to its carotenoids – especially one called crocin, which is attached to a sugar molecule. This means that saffron has dual solubility in water and oil, but, more importantly, crocin is so intense that only traces are needed to give a noticeable colour. So our senses are excited by the colour of sunshine, but what of its flavour? This can only be described as, well, unique. The aroma (given by safranal which is formed during the drying process) is spicy, with a happy hay-like quality and a very slightly phenolic, medicinal note, and it has an astounding effect on other aromas: it softens them and makes them almost tactile. Its flavour is bitter but rounded, maybe a little medicinal but with sweetness too. As I said, it is unique. There is no substitute. Because of this, we often see it working solo in a sweet or savoury dish, or with mild and complementary spices such as rose, nutmeg, cardamom and cinnamon.

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