Re:No Spice More Superior: Pepper
by munificent on Tuesday September 25, 2018 @02:30PM
(#18069083)
Most spices were expensive because distance and perishing. Faster travel and refrigeration fixed that.
Saffron is expensive because takes an insanely large volume of arable land and manual labor to produce. A saffron crocus plant flowers once per year. It produces about four flowers, and each has three tiny threads of saffron. They are harvested by hand.
To produce a pound of saffron requires about 50,000-70,000 flowers and 40 hours of manual labor.
Saffron is expensive because takes an insanely large volume of arable land and manual labor to produce. A saffron crocus plant flowers once per year. It produces about four flowers, and each has three tiny threads of saffron. They are harvested by hand.
To produce a pound of saffron requires about 50,000-70,000 flowers and 40 hours of manual labor.