Azafrán de La Mancha PDO saffron
Irene y Juliana Toledano in Camuñas · 1 g of threads in a case
£7.70
VAT included
In London you can find it in these shops.
Before you order it to your door, see if a shop is near you. They keep it for you and you pick it up when it suits you.
- Colmado Hackney
Chatsworth Road 61, London
Tue to Fri 12:00 to 20:00 · Sat to Sun 11:00 to 17:00
- Despensa Northcote
Northcote Road 74, London
Mon to Fri 10:00 to 19:00 · Sat 10:00 to 17:00
If there is no shop near you, we send it to your door.
Delivery to United Kingdom: £17.10, 4 to 6 days.
Delivery already includes customs and taxes. You pay nothing more when it arrives.
Who makes it
Juliana Toledano is seventy-nine and has spent seventy years stripping saffron flowers in Camuñas. Every October the kitchen of her house fills up with purple flowers and neighbours. They strip them at night, around the table.
Her granddaughter Irene is twenty-six and a nurse at the village health centre. Three years ago she planted half a hectare of bulbs with her grandmother. This autumn they have two.
A kilo of saffron takes about a hundred and fifty thousand flowers, every one picked and stripped by hand. Irene says no machine can do it, and that is why it costs what it costs. Juliana says that is why the whole family sits down to strip.
How it is made
01
In October the flower is picked at dawn, before it opens.
02
It is stripped by hand: the three red stigmas are taken out of each flower.
03
They are toasted on a sieve over gentle heat until they lose their moisture.
04
They are kept as threads, in a case, away from the light.
Other regions
Camuñas is in the Toledo part of La Mancha, at the foot of the ridge with the Consuegra windmills. In October the saffron fields turn purple for three weeks.
What we are allowed to say
The colour comes from crocin and the aroma from safranal. Four or five threads are enough for a rice dish for four.
What they do so it lasts
- 01Everything is done by hand, from the flower to the case.
- 02The bulbs move to a new field every four years to let the soil rest.
- 03Cardboard case with a small glass jar.
Where your money goes
- Irene y Juliana Toledano
- £3.40
- 49%
- Transport
- £0.50
- 7%
- @seis
- £1.10
- 16%
- The shop or home delivery
- £2.00
- 28%
Out of £7.00, the price before VAT. The VAT, £0.70, goes to the state.
What the label says
- Format
- 1 g of threads in a case
- Ingredients
- Saffron threads (Crocus sativus).
- Allergens
- No allergens that need declaring.
- Storage
- In a dry, dark place, tightly closed.
- Best before
- 36 months from packing.
- Seal
- PDO Azafrán de La Mancha
- Made in
- Camuñas, Other regions
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