Saffron is one of the most popular condiments in Spain , especially for cooking most rice dishes . Its flavor, color and aroma make dishes acquire a very characteristic reddish color when cooking with it.
This ingredient can be used for desserts, pastas, meats, stews or fish, but the most popular thing in Spain is to use saffron for paellas sushi.
How to cook with saffron?
There is no single way to cook with saffron , but of course if you know how to use it well, your dishes will have a spectacular flavor.
Is it expensive to cook with saffron?
The high price due to the high production cost and the fineness of this spice makes it treated as luxurious. Planting and harvesting are carried out by artisanal means, with early morning being the ideal time and requiring the stigmas of the flower to be separated, which is the part we are going to use, immediately. The rest is discarded. This task is completely artisanal and approximately 150,000 flowers are needed to obtain 1 kilogram of saffron.
This leads to the predominance of the idea that it is very expensive to use saffron to prepare your dishes, but below you will be able to read a series of tips to know perfectly what is the correct amount of saffron to get the most out of all your dishes. meals and dismantle that false myth.
This spice is used to enhance the flavor of foods and can also sometimes replace salt. Due to its intense flavor, no more than 5 strands per person should be used and, if you opt for the ground variety, the appropriate amount will not exceed 30 milligrams.
ground saffron
You can buy it ground and ready to consume by adding it to the broth of your stew, previously dissolved. You can dissolve it in a few tablespoons of warm water if it is more comfortable for you.
Saffron threads
Before consuming it, it is advisable to toast it lightly or crush it in a mortar, although this way you will not be able to extract all of its power.
How is it roasted?
You can wrap the strands in aluminum foil and pass it through a heat source, such as a gas stove or a lighter, for eight or ten seconds, without stopping moving it, or you can do it in the microwave in a suitable container for 15 seconds.