common ornamental plant love-in-a-mist,
tastes like a milder, more complex version of
thyme or oregano, with a hint of caraway. It’s
used from India through southwest Asia in
breads and other dishes.
Saffron Saffron is the world’s most expensive
spice: a testament not only to the labor
required to produce it, but to its unique ability
to impart both an unusual flavor and an
intense yellow color to foods. It is a part of
the flower of a kind of crocus, Crocus sativus,
which was probably domesticated in or near
Greece during the Bronze Age. The saffron
crocus was carried eastward to Kashmir
before 500 BCE; in medieval times the Arabs
took it westward to Spain, and the Crusaders
to France and England. (The name comes
from the Arabic for “thread.”) Today Iran and
Spain are the major producers and exporters.
They use saffron in their respective rice
dishes, pilaf and paella; the French in their