How Much Saffron to Actually Use
Most recipes over-specify saffron by a factor of two or more, and over-steeping makes it bitter, not stronger.
Most recipes over-specify saffron by a factor of two or more.
Over-steeping does not fix a small amount either. Past a point it turns the result harsh rather than stronger.
Threads per serving
As a working guide for good Mongra grade, per serving:
- Rice for 4-6 people: 20-25 threads
- One cup of milk or tea: 8-10 threads
- Desserts, per 500ml base: 15-20 threads
A strong Category I lot needs fewer threads than the same weight of Category III. Thread size also varies with the cut, so treat these as a starting point rather than a rule.
If you want the specific quantities we use, they are written into each of our recipes, measured for the grade we sell.
Blooming
Saffron does not give up much if you throw it in dry.
Warm liquid, not boiling. Boiling water drives off the aroma you are trying to extract, and safranal is the compound that leaves first. Warm milk, warm water, warm stock, depending on the dish.
Give it 10 to 20 minutes. The liquid turns deep gold and the threads stay red. Then use the liquid, threads and all, in the dish.
Choose the liquid to match what you are cooking. Milk for kheer and kesar doodh, water for rice, a spoonful of the dish's own stock for a savoury pot. The saffron carries into whatever it was bloomed in, so blooming in something that does not belong in the dish wastes part of it.
Whole threads or ground
Grinding changes the result.
A pinch ground with a little sugar or salt before blooming extracts faster and more completely, which is useful when the dish is short on time. The grinding medium stops the threads simply sticking to the mortar.
Whole threads look better in a finished plate, and in a rice dish the visible red threads are part of the point. Choose per dish rather than by rule.
When to add it
Late, in most cases.
Saffron added at the start of a long braise spends an hour losing aroma to the air. The colour survives that. The smell does not.
For rice, the bloomed liquid goes in at the point where the grain will absorb it rather than boil it away. For a curry or a stew, near the end. For milk-based drinks and desserts, off the heat or at a gentle simmer.
Why more is not better
There is a point where extra saffron stops adding perfume and starts adding a bitter edge. It is not subtle when you cross it.
The same is true of steeping time. Twenty minutes in warm liquid gets you most of what is available. Two hours does not double it, and long steeping in hot liquid loses aroma out of the top of the pan while you wait.
If a dish is not tasting of saffron, the usual cause is that it was added dry, or added too early, not that the amount was too small. Increasing the amount to fix a technique problem is how people end up with an expensive, slightly harsh dinner.
Cost per serving
This is the number worth doing, because it is not what people expect.
Saffron is expensive per gram and cheap per plate. A dish serving four takes a small pinch. Our 2g tin is AED 65 and does 15 to 20 servings of tea or rice.
Work it out per serving and saffron sits in the same range as many everyday spices used generously. The sticker price on the tin is what alarms people. The per-plate cost rarely does, and it is the only one that matters once the tin is in the cupboard.
Grade changes the amount
A gram of Category I with a high crocin value goes further than a gram of a lower grade. That is the whole point of the number.
So a recipe written for unknown saffron will over-specify for good saffron and under-specify for weak. If you switch grade, expect to adjust, and adjust downwards when moving up in quality.
The same applies when you move from a cut with yellow style in it to tips only. You are getting more working material per pinch, so the pinch gets smaller.
Storing what you did not use
Bloomed saffron liquid does not keep well. Make what the dish needs.
The threads themselves go back in the tin, closed, in a dark cupboard. Aroma is the first thing to leave a badly stored tin, which means poor storage quietly raises the amount you need for the same result, and you will not notice it happening.
If a tin that used to work at a small pinch now seems weak, look at where it has been living before increasing the amount. How to store saffron covers where it should be living.
The short version
Less than the recipe says. Warm liquid, not boiling. Ten to twenty minutes. Use the liquid and the threads. Add it late.
Start at the low end and add next time. It is much easier to add saffron to the next batch than to take a harsh edge out of this one.