Saffron – cultivation and processing

Saffron is primarily grown in Iran as well as in other Asian countries and Southern Europe. The plant requires special soil and a particular climate.
The closed flowers are harvested before sunrise.  Approximately 150,000 flowers or one hectare of growing area produce 5 kilos of flowers or 1 kilo of dried saffron strands. The careful pulling-out of the three strands per flower and the final sorting of the threads is labour-intensive manual work.