Dyeing for Color | The Metropolitan Museum of Art - http://www.metmuseum.org/visit...
Jan 23, 2015
from
Reiner Grißhammer,
ma∟ıĸ,
scarbo,
Eivind,
Ken Morley,
czy warto,
Haukr,
etesien,
and
John (bird whisperer)
liked this
"This fall I planted saffron crocus (Crocus sativus) corms in the bed devoted to the medieval plants used by artists and craftsmen. I was pleasantly surprised that within a handful of weeks, the infamous saffron crocus was in bloom. The C. sativus is a type of autumn-blooming crocus (yes, that's right: it blooms in the autumn, not the spring) with origins in southern Europe and southwestern Asia, and probably stems from the wild crocus (Crocus cartwrightianus) native to the Greek island of Crete and mainland Greece (Cardon 302)."
- Maitani
"C. sativus is attractive, with its fragrant, lilac-purple flowers and characteristic three red stigmas and yellow anthers. Crocus comes from the Greek krokos, meaning thread, and refers to the plants' slender stigmas. The stigmas are hand-picked, ideally on a sunny morning when the flowers have fully opened, and then dried, giving us the world's most expensive spice: saffron. The quality and aroma of the saffron depends greatly on the drying process, and is graded based on length, color, aroma, and purity. Three-centimeter-long Spanish saffron is supposedly the cream of the crop (Cardon 302)."
- Maitani