Premium Spanish Saffron Threads / 1/9 Oz (3 Gram)

I have never cooked with Saffron. I was aware of it's existence in the Universe and based on the coloration of the rice I have made in the past and the color of the rice while using this product, I'm sure I've eaten lots of foods with saffron included but it was not with foreknowledge. Here's the short version, this stuff is great.If you've never cooked rice with saffron and you're hesitant to pay the price for a small, 5g jar of saffron, end the hesitation, buy it and try it. This is not a hammer, in the face spice like black pepper or salt but instead is a subtle spice that brings internal flavors together which has the effect of elevating the taste quality of the food being eaten.Since I was inexperienced, I was clueless what to expect. For my introduction to this flavor, I prepared a rice bowl, who's taste I was familiar with. I boiled up a cup of water in the microwave and added a small pinch of saffron threads to the hot water that consisted of fifteen or twenty threads. I allowed the threads to steep in the hot water while preparing the rice for the microwave or in total, allowed the saffron threads to steep for about five minutes. The resulting, strong golden yellow tea was added to the rice mixture. The measuring glass was lightly rinsed so as to retrieve all the threads and solution on the sides of the glass and the rinse water added to the rice. The rice was microwaved.My first impression was, okay, lightly creamy. No overpowering odor or taste. The saffron add was, the rice creation now had a full on creamy taste that was yummy compared to the nice but bland rice bowl I normally had been making.Since the first use, I've made my low cal rice bowl five/six times (rice, chicken, garlic salt and black pepper) and this creamy flavor comes to the forefront, each and every time. At this point, I'm addicted and can't imagine returning to the blandness of the past rice bowl creation.My expectations as to frugality of the cost.....I expect to get maybe thirty bowls of rice out of this purchase. Much less than the 120 or so servings that I've read about but for what you get, elevating the taste of a bowl of rice in this fashion, my opinion, this is money well spent and without hesitation, will be spent again. The blunt version; anything to make my cooking taste better, I'm all for.The above are my inexperienced first impressions. To those who know saffron, you will know if my comments are spot on. And to those who are inexperienced and looking at this review in curiosity of should you indulge yourself or not, by all means, do. The result will be a subtle, blending of tastes that will elevate the mundane tastes a couple of levels to: Hey, this is good stuff and the only difference will be cutting back on pepper and the addition of saffron tea.The product has no real smell to it. Nothing but the light background smell of.....well, fresh saffron.Overall, this is a product I feel comfortable referring to both experienced and inexperienced users and from all my research, this is a quality product at an excellent delivered price."Mangiare!"

The saffron is an absolutely beautiful crimson red, and tastes just as wonderful. It has an earthy, slightly bitter taste with just enough hint of sweet to leave you wanting more. I like putting it in with herbal tea and just a touch of honey. I also like it on ice cream as much as I like it on rice and many other things. The saffron is well-handled. There were no obvious broken or poor-quality bits in the tin.The packing is nice. It arrived in a golden packet with the product in a similarly pretty tin. It looks pretty enough to not need to hide it in a spice cabinet with a bunch of old bottles. Mine sits right next to my electric kettle. They make a good pair! The only problem I had with the packaging is that the tamper-evident seal is really difficult to remove. Once the lid was off and ready to be put back on, it is very easy to think the lid was placed properly, when it wasn't. I had to push the lid on until it clicked in place. I almost had a pretty big spill if I hadn't noticed!There is good value for the money with this product. Considering the incredibly high price of saffron in general, this is a high-quality item at a bang-for-the-buck price!

You have to be careful buying saffron on the internet. It's one of those things that people can fake, and you won't know unless you test it/use it.One test is pretty easy. You put a few threads of the saffron in a glass of water. If the water immediately changes color or turns reddish, that's a bad sign. If the individual threads start to disintegrate after a few minutes, that's another bad sign. These threads passed the tests.The flavor also tasted right, though not as strong as my previous source (which is no longer available). This could be due to a number of factors, including the terroir of where the crocus flowers from which they were harvested were grown.When buying spices online, if you find a good source, you stick to it. This is one to come back to.