:. i'm just mad about saffron .:

So the other day I was going to make a yummy dinner using basmati rice. The recipe called for a smidgen of saffron, of which I had none. Normally I substitute like mad when a recipe calls for an ingredient I don't have, but this time I decided saffron sounded too lovely to use a stand-in.

(Say it: 'saffron'. Something that melodic is bound to make a tasty dish.)

Not so fast!
Saffron happens to run $17.75 for a small jar at my local grocers. That's a fortune to someone used to paying 79 cents for all their spice needs.

Turns out, saffron is the world's most expensive spice, and with good reason! And I quote:

"Saffron is harvested from the fall-flowering plant Crocus sativus. Each purple crocus flower produces three stigmas, which are hand-picked from the blossom, dried, and permitted to ferment slightly to produce saffron. It is estimated that it takes some 14,000 stigmas to produce only one ounce of saffron threads. The labor-intensive process makes the cost of these bright red threads soar upwards of $50 per quarter-ounce."

So no, I didn't buy saffron.

I used cinnamon instead.

And yes, it was quite tasty.