Type of saffron

Maybe this question has occurred to you, what is the difference between the types of saffron in terms of quality and price. Stay with us in the rest of the article to get the answer to your question.

What is saffron?

Saffron is the red stigmas of the saffron flower that grows from its bulb. These stigmas are very light and are dried after collection to be used as a food seasoning or natural coloring agent.

types of saffron has long been the most expensive spice in the world based on its weight and is offered to the market in different types. Types of saffron are determined based on which part of the stigma has been removed. The quality of saffron is measured by laboratory analysis, in which three main compounds should be considered. Three important factors safranal, crocin and picocrocin. Safranal is related to saffron aroma, crocin is responsible for its color, and picocrocin is responsible for Saffron’s taste.

how many different types of saffron are there?

negin saffron
Sargol saffron
Pushal saffron
Bunch of saffron (Pich girl)
Saffron root
You might imagine that saffron has different flowers or the way of growing these saffrons is different! But it is not. The time to clean the saffron flower and the saffron stigma are cut into different lengths, each of which has a name.

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Different parts of saffron

Saffron flower includes petals, stigma, cream, leaves and onion. The saffron stigma can be considered the most important part of the saffron flower. Stigma is the red part of saffron threads that is located between the petals. Each flower has three strands of saffron. The thickness, coloring power and fragrance of stigmas are not the same and can be variable. Each stigma consists of four parts: crown, gem, pushal and handle. The yellow part of saffron strands is also called cream. The cream is actually placed at the end of the saffron strands. A string of saffron usually contains 70% stigma and 30% cream. Different types of saffron are produced based on these different parts of a stigma and cream.

Type of saffron

saffron daste

Saffron is the main and most basic type of saffron because it contains the whole string of saffron. This sample of saffron is obtained by stacking and drying an entire string of saffron (including stigma and cream).
The cream part is about 3 to 5 mm and the stigma is longer or shorter depending on the quality of saffron.
The coloring power of Dokhtarpich saffron is between 120 and 150 units.

property of saffron daste

▶ This type of saffron has cream and stigma together, so it is practically impossible to cheat it.
▶ In this saffron, three branches of the stigma are not separated and are next to each other.

Pushal saffron

In Pushal saffron, it is the same part of the red stigma plus a small amount of yellow cream. In this model, compared to saffron, the stigma part of the handle is more and therefore it has more coloring power. The reason for the popularity of this model, in addition to the lower price, is that because the cream and stigma are connected, it becomes very easy to recognize the originality of saffron. In Poshal saffron, the threads are coiled, there are no parts that are stuck together, the end of the stigma is white, and the threads are wrinkled.

property of Pushal saffron

▶  The three branches of the stigma are attached to each other.
▶  Its quality is between saffron and sergol.
▶  At the end, a white part can be seen and the red is not uniform.

Sargol saffron

Sargol saffron is one of the most common types of saffron. The pistil is the only red part of the filament (stigma) and is separated from its yellow part (cream). This type of saffron has much more coloring and fragrance power than other types of saffron. For this reason, Sargol saffron is more popular and is known as the main saffron in the market. Sargol saffron is also called head saffron or root head saffron. The coloring power of Sargol saffron is 210 to 260 units and is very widely used. Buying and selling Sargol saffron occupies the largest volume of the saffron market and usually most saffron brands offer this type of saffron to their customers.

property of Sargol saffron

▶ There is no white part in it and it is completely red.
▶ Saffron branches are separate from each other.
▶ Its quality is better than handle and pushal and it can be used for export.

Super negin saffron

In fact, this model is obtained from Pushal saffron, so that the three-branched strands of red and thick stigma without the cream part are separated from the strands, and high quality saffron with higher coloring is prepared.
This saffron, which is considered to be the most expensive and luxurious type of saffron, is classified in Iran as Negin Persi, Negin Sur, Negin 1st Grade and Semi-Negin.
This saffron model has a high price due to the expensive and time-consuming production process. The coloring power of this saffron is 230 to 270 units.
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property of Super negin saffron

▶The three branches of the stigma are attached to each other.
▶It has the highest quality of saffron.
▶Saffron has the highest price.
▶There is no white part at the end.

Negin saffron itself is divided into several categories:

Super Negin saffron

Super Negin saffron has all the characteristics of Negin saffron, that is, there is no white part at the end, the stigmas are all red, and the stigmas are not wrinkled or bent.

The difference between Super Negin saffron and Negin saffron is in the coarseness of the stigmas; The stigmas of Super Nagin saffron are bigger than other categories of saffron and its tips are wide.

Negin Etuoi or pressi saffron

In this type of saffron, during drying and processing, physical pressure is applied to the stigma and they are pressed; Due to the way those stigmas dry, they become flat and smooth.

Nagin Toui saffron is suitable for export, its quality is very high and it looks better than other types of saffron, but this type of saffron is very rare in the market.

Semi Negin saffron

This type of Negin has the characteristics of Negin saffron and it has been properly processed, but less precision has been done in its processing, so it has a quality between Pushal and Negin saffron.

In some semi-Negin saffron stigmas, the orange part of the root can also be seen. Semi-Negin saffron, like Pushal saffron, has wrinkles, that is, when removing a stigma from Negin saffron, a large amount of stigmas are removed.

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Which type of saffron is best?

As a buyer for home consumption of saffron, to choose the best type of saffron, you must know its types and choose the saffron that has the most coloring and fragrance power. Nagin and Super Nagin saffron, Sargol, Datu and Pushal have high coloring power, respectively. And the best type of saffron can be considered negin  saffron or Sargol.

Which saffron is best for food?

In general, it can be said that the best saffron is the string type, and among the types of strings, the saffron that has more coloring power, such as Super Negin or Sargol saffron, is of much higher quality and is known as one of the best saffrons.

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