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Comment by denton-scratch | Hacker News Reader

Does grinding help the extraction? I just steep the threads for ten minutes in freshly-boiled water, then strain them (my mother was not a great cook, and I don't think she ever used saffron).

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Grinding with sugar is definitely the way to go. I generally buy a big wheel of Iranian Saffron on eBay or a Persian shop, then grind it all up in a mortar and pestle with some sugar and store it in a spice jar in a dark cupboard. Then when you need it you don't need to be faffing about. If you want to be fancy, save a few whole strands that you can add to rice for decoration, but using whole stamens is really not necessary.

> I generally buy a big wheel of Iranian Saffron on eBay or a Persian shop

Shouldn't this be a dead ringer for the stuff being fake? We don't trade with Iran.

Yes we do.

I think that's just the US, though, right?

UK imported 11 tons of saffron from Iran in 2023 - https://wits.worldbank.org/trade/comtrade/en/country/GBR/yea...

Did you know that not everyone on HN is American? This is such a silly I'm the main character syndrome.

We (Australia) do -

2019: https://wits.worldbank.org/trade/comtrade/en/country/AUS/yea...

2023: https://wits.worldbank.org/trade/comtrade/en/country/AUS/yea...

Your blinkers are showing.

Yes, I grind with raw sugar granules something like 20 threads. And then mix it with a bit of rose water, then add to meat marinade or stew. For other cultures mix it with warmed up butter (fat will transfer flavour even better than rose water) or wine

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