This August I did a cooking class for an Italian friend at her fabulous villa in Chianti and one of the guests at the class brought a lovely hostess gift for both of us; 20 saffron bulbs.
He gave me instructions for planting.... and I was so excited to see my bulbs sprout and flower.
Some of the bulbs were double so I harvested twice from almost all the plants.
Now I leave them in the ground and split the bulbs next year so will have quite a bit.
This year I have already done a risotto and a soup and still have some left.
Mille Grazie! I adore gifts that keep on giving!
How wonderful to have your own saffron harvest, I love the photo collage you have included.
ReplyDeleteThanks!
ReplyDeleteI am so impressed! I guess I never realized that you could harvest saffron yourself.
ReplyDelete@paninigirl- I live in an area of tuscany where saffron has been grown since medieval times-- am lucky it liked my yard!
ReplyDeleteHow many bulbs do you need to harvest enough for your cooking needs?
ReplyDeleteWow, very cool! I didn't not realize you could just grow them... haha...
ReplyDeleteI was given 20 bulbs. I harvested twice, most bulbs had two blossoms. it gave me a nice amount probably for making 4 recipes. I have made a small soup and a pumpkin risotto. I still have more to use. Next year, in June I am to remove the bulbs from the ground and divide them- so will have more than 40 plants! at that rate I will have a lot!
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