Saffron crocus - highly recommend!

Joanie

Carnivorous Plant Addict
I planted saffron crocus bulbs this fall, in what used to the garlic bed. The bulbs were a sell-off from a grower in NS who offered the bulbs to NS gardening clubs. So far, they have been pretty cool - highly recommend! The first flower showed up after about 6 weeks. They continued to bloom in small numbers. Two more have appeared this morning, but they must be the last. We've had lots of cold temps, a couple of short hail storms, and a tiny bit of snow.

I've made saffron rice a couple of times but don't have the right balance yet. I'll post a recipe when it works.

Photos are the flowers picked two days ago.

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Is there any scent ? or just the color ... I bought some at store but there was no scent !!! Quite expensive for a small vial.
 
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Is there any smell/perfum ? or just the color ... I bought some at store but no sense !!! Quite expensive for a small tube.
The flower or thread doesn’t have much of a scent. But it is used in cooking. The flavour is pretty distinct. There’s also some chatter about health benefits but that’s up to you to research. My last batch of rice, I used 6 threads for 1 cup of rice. The flavour was almost there, but not quite. It can be used in tea, but I haven’t tried that yet.

It was pretty nice having new blossoms after everything else in the garden was done.
 
The green tops look great. Mine have about half as many green leaves. Instructions that came with the bulbs were that if they were happy, they would triple in bulb numbers each year :-D I planted mine deeply, in a raised bed. It's comparatively lot of garden real-estate, so want to find something that will grow with/above the bulbs.
 
Very cool! I saw one of my local stores sell Saffron bulbs but decided against it. I might have to try it out next time I see them.
 
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