Inside the only saffron farm in Istria
- by croatiaweek
- in Business
Saffron
The king of spices, the most delicate and the most expensive—saffron, also known as “red gold.”
Whilst there are a few producers in Croatia, the Černjeka family is the only saffron grower on the Istrian peninsula, hand-picking each delicate flower to produce one of the world’s most precious spices.
When the saffron blooms, Ester and Mladen Černjeka are ready and waiting. It must be picked on the same day it opens.
“Its life span is very short,” explains Ester Černjeka to HRT. ”Only one day, and in the evening when the flower opens, it releases three stigmas. These three red threads are the only part that’s used as a dried spice.”
Each flower is harvested by hand, one by one. Sometimes, they spend as long as 12 hours in their 2,000-square-metre field.
“From start to finish, you’ve got to pick all you can, both in the morning and afternoon, because if it’s not picked today, it won’t be there tomorrow,” adds Mladen.
The most expensive spice in the world
Each saffron flower passes through their hands at least twice—once during picking, and again during cleaning.
It takes 250 to 300 flowers to produce just one gram of saffron, as each flower has only three stigmas. This refers to dried saffron; while fresh saffron has a certain weight, much of it is lost during drying, Ester adds.
Each gram sells for 18 to 20 euros.
“The most we’ve ever harvested was 480 grams, nearly half a kilogram. That was our peak,” Mladen notes.
It’s a painstaking job, which explains why a gram sells for 18 to 20 euros.
Saffron
The saffron is weighed on a precise gold scale.
“It’s sold in small quantities, and the scale is precise. Saffron commands a certain price, so it’s important to use an accurate scale to ensure fairness for customers,” Ester concludes.
And customers can be found along the coast, where their saffron is used to season dishes in top-tier restaurants.
Watch the video here.
