Saffron harvest begins in Kozani
- Written by E.Tsiliopoulos
Τhis year's harvest of saffron, called Krokos in Greek, has began, timidly, but also with relatively low expectations due to the low rainfall of the past few weeks, with the first flowers already in the fields of the Tsartissiaba region.
Earth’s gold, nature’s most precious plant, the saffron flower, also known as the Krokos flower. grows in Kozani, North Greece, and givesg its name to the land where it comes from, the Krokos village. A unique flower with a beautiful story to tell.
Krokos blossoms only once a year, every October, for barely two weeks, creating a purple magic carpet as far as the eye can see. The flowers are harvested daily, right after the morning dew has evaporated, and saffron antioxidants are at their peak. After all the flowers have been collected, the fields look empty, but by dawn, the Krokos blooms once again, blanketing the fields in beautiful purple flowers.
Petals are separated by hand from the saffron stigmas and stamens, immediately after being picked, followed by stigmas’ drying process, ensuring that the saffron is at its highest potency.
A hundred and fifty thousand blooms hand-picked by the villagers during the harvest, yield only one kilo of Krokos stigmas. A painstaking process, making saffron more valuable than gold itself.
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