I’m Not Mad about Saffron
Jason Kuznicki on Jun 30th 2008
True confession: I’m coming to realize that I find the taste of saffron perfectly insipid.
I say “coming to realize,” because, like you, I valorized the stuff for years. But look — it’s almost flavorless, people. What are you going on and on about?
What little flavor I can detect reminds me of metal, or maybe burned plastic. I’ve cooked with it to the point where I can detect the flavor in the finished food, but I’ve always regretted it: a bitter, neon-orange waste of good basmati. Saffron is a color in search of a flavor. That’s why this paean to saffron from Elatia Harris makes no sense at all to me:
[W]hat if you don’t like it? . . . It may just be that your palate is extremely sensitive to anything that tastes at all bitter. If you don’t like arugala, artichokes, pomegranates, tamarind, wild asparagus, green tea, tobiko, rosewater, cilantro, Seville oranges, dark chocolate or fresh chilis, then the odds are very great you will not like saffron and should not put yourself out to try it, even though saffron tastes like none of those things, exactly.
But I like arugula, artichokes, pomegranates, wild asparagus, green tea, tobiko, rosewater, cilantro, Seville oranges, dark chocolate, and fresh chilis. I can taste them. Saffron? It’s wasted on me.
And it’s an expensive waste too. There’s just no way on earth that I’m going to buy saffron at the going rates. (Last price check at the local grocery? Well north of $300/oz. It’s not quite as pricey as cocaine, but it sure is getting there. Harris claims to be able to order it for $72.95/oz, but even then… even then!)
Hypotheses:
1. Peer pressure. Call it the emperor’s new condiment.
2. Saffron is a status symbol, a way of signaling not just wealth but culinary sophistication. This combines well with the first hypothesis, actually.
3. Attributing a strong flavor to a strongly colored item. (But turmeric colors in just about the same way. What gives?)
4. I have a rare genetic disorder that makes me incapable of appreciating something extraordinary.
Filed in The Biosphere
I feel the same way about escargot. It’s just slippery butter.
Hehe. Thanks for the reference to Donovan’s “Mellow Yellow” in your title, Jason. [We date ourselves, tho, eh?]
I was about to write that our young Mr. Rowe—resident guitar freak—would be just about to post a link to the fact that Jimmy Page or Jeff Beck played on it or on the most famous psychedelic Donovan guitar lead, “Hurdy Gurdy Man.”
Well, thank God for the internet, which is so useful for dispelling myth/truths we think we know. The truth is almost always a bit less glamorous.
On the other hand, John Paul Jones, the bass player for Zep, played bass and was the musical director and arranger for Donovan, which is actually a lot more interesting and probative, a true fact I had no idea of. #4 out of 4 guys in Zep, but an estimable fellow on his own.
[I reckon that's why we're all here, to discover such stuff together. Cheers, Jason. And Jon of course. Lordy, I love this blog...]
Oooops, forgot the link:
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Did_Jimmy_Page_play_on_Donovans_Hurdy_Gurdy_Man
Every time I bite down on a piece of cilantro it tastes like nasty metal to me, and everyone else I know insists it’s great and I’m crazy. Maybe some people do inherit an inability to taste certain foods.
Tom: Heh. I knew about JPJ and Donovan because I studied a lot of Led Zep. history when a teen. Wasn’t sure about the tidbit on Page and Hurdy Gurdy Man.
tilts mentions our shared dislike of cilantro. Check this out:
http://www.ihatecilantro.com/
Don’t miss the 11 pages of anti-cilantro haiku.
I freaking love cilantro! I didn’t use it for years because I didn’t know how to use it/mom never used it - but it makes all the difference in the world in salsa and other mexican flavors/dishes.
I make a killer lime/cilantro/avocado chicken over raw baby spinach dish that is just amazing.
People, you’ve had the wrong saffron. Um, who said it first? When you have eliminated the impossible solutions, the remaining one, however unlikely, is the one to accept. Take my word for it — you’ve wrapped your lip around bad product. On the other hand, you have excellent taste in reading matter!
A bit late in replying, but I can completely relate to you. In the last 3 years I’ve become very good friends with an ex-pat Iranian living here in the US and very often he’d make traditional Iranian dishes that often had saffron, especially in the rice. I enjoyed the Iranian food but there was always a taste (again, especially with the rice) that I wasn’t entirely liking. Eventually, we figured out (even though he didn’t initially think it was) that it was the saffron. The taste puts me in mind of some metallic substance with a slightly sweet, chemical taste to it. Made me think I was eating burnt Teflon. The saffron was undoubtedly of the highest quality but the taste is just too… blehk. I don’t think id compare it to cilantro or any of those as it has its own unique taste, and I have no problem with any of those listed. To each his own!