For centuries, the saffron growers of Iran’s Khorasan province had little problem exporting their “red gold” – a spice so prized that Ancient Greek generals paid handsomely to bathe in it to heal their wounds and Swiss noblemen once fought a war over it.
Of late, however, the precious stigmas of the crocus sativus, renowned for reaching prices by weight higher than gold in their most sought-after forms, have become distinctly trickier for Iranian growers to dispose of as US and European sanctions close traditional trade routes and mechanisms.
The result is an increasingly shady supply chain for the treasured ingredient – considered key to many dishes – beset by smuggling, counterfeiting and adulteration as Khorasan’s growers and traders, who produce some 90 per cent of global saffron supplies, seek to reach a market increasingly preyed upon by fraudsters and criminal gangs.
From plant-based bulking agents such as safflower, an inferior substitute referred to by medieval herbalists as “bastard saffron”, to the addition of illegal food dyes and even the production…
