Caring for your saffron bulb

The bulb as you have it generally has everything it needs to grow up and flower contained within the bulb. All you need to do is wake them up, which can be done by watering. You can plant your bulb in a pot, in the ground, or even in a soiless medium if that is your kind of thing. After a few weeks of keeping moist, but not soggy, the bulb will sprout green grass-like leaves followed by a flower.

Watch the flower carefully for when it opens. The prized saffron spice itself is the stigma- the long red whiskers that grow out of the center of the flower. There should be three of them. To harvest them, cut them with scissors and lay them out to dry. When they are fully dry the stigmas can be stored in an airtight container for a while. Typically about a month of aging time is recommended for the best flavor.

The flower itself also imparts saffron flavors and can be used for tea or for flavoring dishes. The flower contains a lot of water so I’ve found drying in a dehydrator works a bit better than amibent conditions for drying. Mold could be an issue.

After the harvest the bulb will continue growing out their grassy leaves. At this point nutrition can be helpful for the bulb. In large scale situations the bulb is grow out for their stimgas in crates and them moved into the ground after harvest. Ample water and nutrients will help the bulb grow in size and also multiply. Saffron multiplies, however in order for the daughter bulbs to flower they must be big a certain size- about the size of the bulb you have.

Typically they will stay in the ground until the leafy growth fully dies back, and then dug up and stored indoors until starting the cycle again in late August/ early September.

If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to: fermentpittsburgh@gmail.com