Italian Saffron

Since it confers fragrance and flavor to any infusion, saffron works well in dressings, frying batters, bread and focaccia doughs or as a side dip, especially if cheese, yogurt or cream based.

Along with the traditional rice recipes, such as paella and milanese risotto, saffron also goes well with spaghetti, home-made pasta, ravioli, dumplings and cous-cous. It can be used in the boiling water or the cooking broth, in a butter sauce, as well as in lemon juice or cream.

Saffron goes well with white wine and citrus fruits so in can be added to all those meat dishes that require a gravy or an addition of wine, such as: scalops, lemon chicken nuggets or duck à l’orange.

Since it goes well with milk products, saffron can be added to puddings, creams, mousse, and all those recipes that call for milk in the dough, including crêpes or pancakes. It can also be used to add flavor to yogurt, kefir or icecream/gelato.

The distinctive color of saffron can confer a unique touch to liquors such as limoncello and arancello, rather than to cocktails, be they dry, sweet or spicy. There are even some traditional liquors that are made from the petals of the saffron flower itself.

Thanks to its tonic and antidepressant properties, along with its unique color, saffron is used to make hot or cold tea and lemonade. Usually it is accompanied by cinnamon, ginger, citruses and rose petals or rose extract.

Thanks to its ability to regulate the release of serotonin, saffron can act as a mood stabilizer, reduce insomnia and play an important anti-depressant role.

Various studies have confirmed that saffron is able to degrade the accumulations of B-amyloid protein plaques in brain cells, which are responsible for Alzheimer’s, therefore playing an important role in curing and preventing this disease.

Saffron has proven to be effective in the early and intermediate stages of macular degeneration, an eye affliction that is caused by old age and that can lead to blindness in those who are affected by it.

Respiratory system, saffron is a natural anti-inflammatory of the respiratory system it’s recommended to cure persistent coughs and for patients with asthma.

The molecule that provides saffron’s red color – crocin – is also able to affect our sugar metabolism, depriving tumor cells of the nutrition that they require to survive. It literally starves cancer cells to death.

Also thanks to its effects on sugar metabolism, saffron regulates and improves glycemia, lowering the glucose levels in our blood and improving our response to insuline. Furthermore, it also eliminates hunger pangs, helping us to eat less and stick to a diet, be it for weight loss or health reasons.

Saffron has been used for ages in the East for treating hair loss and psoriasis, as an anti-aging medicine and an anti-wrinkle cream because of its ability to reverse oxidative stress in the skin cells.

Eating saffron is helpful to prevent gas, reduce colitis, soothe stomach aches and prevent gastric ulcers.

Traditonally considered an aphrodisiac in various cultures, recent studies have proven the benefits that this spice has on the reproductive system in general.

Saffron has been mentioned as a dye to color the headwear of the clergy since the times of the Phoenicians. Till this day both buddhist monks and Hindu worshippers wear robes that are dyed with this spice.

Before the invention of chemical pigmentations, saffron was used for its yellow gold hue and mixed together with other colors to make them brighter. Today it is still used for the restauration of ancient afrescos and paintings.

Histology, saffron plays an important role in biology labs because it colors different tissues and cells in different ways, so that they can be analyzed under a microscope, for example for biopsies.