If it wasn’t for its intense colour, incredibly fragrant flavour and stunning ability to transform dishes, no one would bother growing and harvesting saffron. It is back-breaking work – the spice is made from the stems of the Crocus Sativus flower, which have to be gently picked by hand, and it takes roughly 500 hours to harvest a kilogram of saffron from 100,000 flowers. It’s this labour-intensive process that makes the spice more expensive than gold, gram for gram – and chefs can’t get enough of it. But how did this luxurious spice, originally from the Middle East, find its way to the central Italian region of Abruzzo?
The answer, of course, is steeped in myth and legend – as any Italian food worth its salt should be. The story goes that a Dominican monk belonging to the Santucci family (who may or may not have actually existed – the family certainly did but no physical written records of him have been found) brought the spice back to Abruzzo after spending time in Iberia. During this time Iberia was under the rule of the Moors, and so the priest had experienced first-hand the heady, fragrant flavours associated with Middle Eastern cooking. Saffron was one of them.
The monk fled Iberia during the Inquisition, returning home to Abruzzo with the seeds of the Crocus Sativus flower. He supposedly favoured its medicinal properties over its use in cooking, but believed he could grow the spice back home due to the similar climate. The monk was correct – the flowers started growing, and saffron production in Italy was born.
Over the years demand for this exotic spice grew and grew, and soon enough there were several different producers in Abruzzo dedicating their land to saffron production. Wealthy Italian families supposedly loved how it gave food a rich golden hue, and it became an essential ingredient in dishes such as risotto alla Milanese. Cakes and liqueurs relied on it for flavour and colour, as did painters who used it to create dyes. Soon enough demand saw the delicate little stems exported all over Italy, and the little town of Navelli – where the Santucci monk first planted his seeds – became famous across the country. The large nearby city of L’Aquila (now the region’s capital) also grew rapidly, funded by saffron money.