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0.5 gram, strands
Delicate floral sweetness, reminding you that the threads come from a flower. Furthermore, the flavours are warm, deep, and complex. In addition to a subtle sweetness, you will also find earthy undertones in the saffron.
To extract the most flavor, aroma, and color from saffron, you need to properly activate it before adding it to a dish.
This can be done in several ways: let it soak for 10-20 minutes in warm milk, broth, or water. You can briefly roast saffron for a more intense flavor (but only roast it for 5-10 seconds). After roasting, let the saffron cool and grind it finely before use.
You can also add the saffron directly to warm oil or butter.
Saffron is a versatile spice used worldwide in various cuisines, from Afghan tea to French bouillabaisse and Spanish paella.
It enhances cold and hot beverages, sauces, meat, vegetable, and rice dishes, bread, cookies, and milk-based desserts. It pairs well with orange, citrus zest, and rose water.
The flavour of good saffron is so intense that you only need a little to give your dishes a beautiful golden-yellow colour and an intense taste. This is good news, because due to its labour intensity, it is the most expensive spice in the world. But believe us: you won't need much of this saffron!
We also work with Jawid from 'The Spice Change' for importing wild cumin seeds, but his own mission is to establish saffron supply chains with small communities in his homeland, so that he can support the people in his country from here and, at the same time, bring a very special product to the Netherlands. We are happy to support this mission, which is why we sell this product under Jawid's own brand: The Spice Change
How is this chain structured?
All our chains have their own story. Their own piece of land, their own farmer. It is grown and processed in a certain way. Journey with us to the story behind this flavour.
This saffron comes from Afghanistan and is imported in collaboration with The Spice Change.
The saffron is grown in a completely natural way, meaning without the use of chemicals or pesticides.
Growth cycle: plant in July/August, harvest takes place from October to early December.
The saffron contains a high percentage of crocin, picrocrocin and safranal, which ensures an intense color, rich taste and strong aroma. For saffron: the redder the threads, the higher the quality. If the red color disappears when you mix the saffron with lukewarm water, then you do not have real saffron.
Jawid - The Spice Change
"Since 2022, we have worked together with the Good Spice on a shared mission: to support poor families, while providing our customers with healthy products, and fairly reward the farmers for their hard work—building a sustainable business and hope, together."
Let's make an impact!
Every chain not only has its own story, but also its own challenges. We would like to explain what impact we make per chain and how we deal with specific challenges.
By cutting out intermediaries, The Spice Change pays farmers more than twice as much as other saffron companies.
Saffron cultivation in Afghanistan is a sustainable source of income for many farmers who were previously dependent on poppies (opium production).
Normally, we always visit the farmers we work with in person. However, with this supply chain, we are unable to visit due to the unsafe situation in the country. We are so committed to the mission of The Spice Change that we want to support it.
Furthermore, it is not possible to import from Afghanistan to the Netherlands. Therefore, an extra step needs to be added to the trade chain. The spices go to Pakistan, where an exchange with Afghanistan is still possible, and from Pakistan, we can then import the cumin into the Netherlands.
In general, it is challenging that there is a lot of saffron fraud. Due to high prices, it is often diluted or imitated (e.g., dyed stamens, paper fibers, other plant parts, or artificial colorings). A lot of 'fake' saffron can also be found in the Netherlands. We are therefore happy to work with a partner we fully trust, with a lot of knowledge and focus on this supply chain.
Air, light, and moisture are detrimental to the quality of your spices. Therefore, store them in a well-sealed jar or tin that is impervious to light (or in a dark kitchen cupboard or drawer). Also, avoid storing them above your stove, as cooking fumes can affect them. Always ensure that you transfer spices from a repack into a well-sealed jar or tin as quickly as possible.
The shelf life of spices is primarily determined by the loss of flavour that occurs over time, as they generally do not go bad otherwise. We use a shelf life of 2.5 - 3 years after harvest. This depends partly on the time of packaging and also on whether they are whole spices that you grind yourself or pre-ground powder.
Spices found in supermarkets are often already 2-3 years old before they are even packaged, and then receive an additional shelf life of 3-5 years. Primarily use your senses to assess if they are still good. At some point, there will simply be no flavour left, which would be a waste of a good meal!
We do not have organic certification, even though our spices meet these standards. All farmers work in harmony with nature and without pesticides, but the certification process is unfortunately very expensive. It's actually unaffordable for small farmers. And we want to show them that it is worthwhile to grow spices sustainably. That there are people willing to pay for a quality natural product and that they don't first have to make a huge, impossible investment in the form of certification.
Some of our farmers do have the certificate, by the way. Cooperatives, for example, can apply for the certification process jointly, which makes it much more affordable. But to be allowed to put this on the packaging, our entire chain would also have to be certified, including the Sheltered Workshop where the spices are packaged. This is currently not possible because they also work for other non-organic producers. So, in short: no, we are not officially certified, but the quality and way of working are at least just as good.
Single Origin means that a product comes from one specific place. Often, harvests from different places, sometimes even from different countries and different years, are mixed together. Traders do this to develop the cheapest possible product with a consistent taste. With us, you know exactly where your spices come from, right down to the name of the farmer. This also means that the quality can sometimes vary, as it is a natural product. For example, one year might be drier than another, which can lead to a change in taste. But our farmers always strive for the highest possible taste experience, and you can taste it!
We always strive to purchase the latest harvest. Of course, it can sometimes happen that we still have some of the previous harvest in stock, while the new harvest is already ready. So we cannot always guarantee that you will receive the very latest harvest, but we do aim for it as much as possible. On the packaging, you will find a QR code linking to a page where you can find out exactly when your spices were harvested and when they were filled into the tins/bags. With this, we aim for full transparency in our process.
We ship to most European countries, but this naturally comes with higher shipping costs. Would you like to order from a country not currently available? Please contact us so we can explore the options.
At Sociale Werkplaats Siza, they do their utmost to pack the parcels the day after the order. If it's busy, it might take an extra day. They don't work on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, so if you order on a Thursday, for example, it will take a little longer before your parcel is dispatched.
Once the parcels are ready, they are picked up by the Groene Rijders and delivered by their bicycle couriers in the areas they serve, or outsourced to PostNL. Depending on how busy they are, they also aim to deliver within 1 business day.
