Saffron (Crocus sativus): Production and Processing 1st Edition

Thank you!

This book is a collection and digest of many academic papers on or about the saffron crocus. There is a lot of verbage to wade through if you're looking specifically for recommendations on how to grow saffron, maximize yields, or treat diseases. There is little or no advice in these pages, only observations of grower practices in various regions (Iran, Spain, Italy) with no explaination of why different growers choose different techniques.Some of the information seems to be contradictory or self-serving. For example, the author/editors focus on information gathered from Iranian crops because more saffron is planted in Iran than anywhere else in the world. However, crop yields in Iran are among the worst in the world; it seems odd to look for "best practices" among the worst performers.In another example, a chart on page 145 shows price (in Iranian Rials) per kilogram of Iranian saffron from 1973 through 200. The figures indicate that the price per kilogram has increased 102 times the 1973 baseline figures. 100x in 30 years! However, these figures have not been adjusted for global or local inflation. The text notes that the Iranian rial has suffered substantial inflation, and that the actual price of saffron when measured by other metrics has not increased significantly since 1973. So basically, the chart showing a 100x price increase is worthless.There is worthwhile information in this book, but you have to dig for it and you weigh it carefully for regional bias. The useable / actionable information I extracted from this 240+ page book can be summarized on two pages.Overall, this book feels like it was compiled for a specific purpose: to make a case for the Iranian government to better support its own agricultural assets in saffron. Iran is the world leader in saffron production, but much smaller producers such as Spain control the world saffron market and reap the largest share of the profits.This is the most comprehensive book on saffron crocus that I've seen, but it leaves much to be desired. A new book written for the reader interested in growing saffron would immediately topple this book.

1. I’m sorry you are triggered by the fact that saffron is so significant in Iranian culture, most of the scientific literature about it is from Iranian PhDs.2. Crop yields in Iran are indeed lower than they should be for the country that produces 90% of the world’s supply. That’s largely because of US sanctions, which deny Iran access to the newest and best farming & irrigation tools.3. Also largely because of US sanctions, Iranian researchers don’t have the same resources to travel across the world on months-long research projects to gather data on saffron producers. They can’t even get a visa to go to Spain.4. You are adorable in that you confuse crop yield with QUALITY. Crop yield is a standard measurement of the amount of agricultural production harvested per unit of land area. It does not address quality. If you knew saffron as Iranians do, you would know that connoisseurs of saffron care about quality (taste, smell, color being indicators of quality), not yield.5. Despite their comparative lack of research resources, Iranian researchers are among the most highly regarded in the world.6. No one can keep up with Iranian inflation, certainly least of all the Iranians who are down to 2 eggs per month (sanctioning a central bank under Trump caused unheard of levels of inflation in Iran).Sounds a lot like Danny Thorpe has a problem with Iran and Iranians.7. Just because a first world country has access to the US financial market, EU trading scheme and industrialized marketing doesn’t make its saffron better quality. Those affect how you sell, not what you produce.Nuance and understanding folks, those are things.