Saffron is a sophisticated yet beneficial spice for day-to-day use. Saffron spice flavor adds a unique taste and color to anything you are cooking. Globally, it has a market size of around 600 million dollars in 2024, which is growing at an average rate of 6% CAGR. There are numerous health benefits attached to a daily intake of a few saffron strands. This blog will dive deep into the benefits associated with saffron and how you can add it to your daily life without being harsh on your pocket.

Saffron: A Basic Overview

The name of the saffron spice flower is Crocus sativus. The stigma and styles of the flowers are carefully collected and dried to prepare the final saffron strands. As it involves manual collection and preparation, the price remains on the higher side.

Due to the richness of different plant pigments like crocin and crocetin, it has an earthy flavor and reddish-golden color. When you add a few strands of saffron to any dish you are cooking, it imparts a subtle yellowish color, making it look aesthetic.

Benefits of Saffron:

1. Anti-inflammatory and antioxidant Compounds:

As mentioned earlier, it is rich in carotenoids like crocin, picrocrocin, crocetin and terpenes like safranal. If you consume saffron regularly, it will reduce inflammation and oxidative stress in your body. Besides, type 2 diabetes patients can consume this to get a balanced blood sugar level. Although it is a stress on your pocket sometimes, judicious consumption can make you a healthier version of yourself.

2. Quality Sleep:

In these pressure-packed times, good quality sleep for a fixed duration is crucial for a healthy life. The active compounds in saffron have sleep-inducing properties, leading to better sleep. Besides, its consumption at night can increase the level of sleep-inducing hormones like melatonin for an enhanced sleep quality. That’s why a glass of milk with a few strands of saffron spice flavor can make you sleep well.

3. Improved mental health:

A lot of people go through various kinds of mental health disorders like anxiety, depression, overthinking, and more. A few strands of saffron can act as a natural antidepressant for mental health conditions. It is as promising as antidepressant medicines. You may wonder how it happens. Compounds like crocin and safranal can induce mood-boosting neurotransmitters like dopamine and serotonin. This increase in the levels of feel-good hormones can reduce the feeling of anxiety and depression.

4. Heart health:

Cardiovascular health is an important aspect of everyone’s overall health condition. Saffron intake can significantly hamper blood sugar levels, blood pressure, cholesterol, and other aspects of heart health. If you are a heart patient or just want to take care of your heart, using a few strands of yellow saffron spice in your dishes can be a good start.

5. Helps in certain eye conditions:

AMD (Age-related macular degeneration) is currently an important cause of vision loss in the older population. However, regular saffron intake can improve the vision quality for people with AMD and diabetic maculopathy. Besides, it can also reduce eye pressure in people with glaucoma.

Adding Saffron to your usual cooking:

As we already know, saffron is expensive. So, it is important to use it judiciously. Your responsibility here is not to waste any flavor. Like any dried herb, yellow saffron spice requires heat and moisture to activate it. So, before you add it to any dish, put a few strands in warm water and let it sit for a few minutes. It will activate the flavors and start imparting color.

You can also use mortar and pestle to roughly grind a few strands into an uneven paste. However, if your dish includes a hot liquid, you don’t have to do this extra stuff. You can extract all the color and flavor by just adding the saffron threads into that hot liquid. Also, another thing to note about saffron is that less is enough. For instance, nine to ten tiny threads of saffron are sufficient to flavor an entire rice pot.

Dishes where you can add Saffron:

Saffron can be added to any daily life dish like rice, pasta, potato dumplings, sauces, cakes, etc. No matter what you are preparing, the addition of a few saffron threads into it can enhance its color and flavor. Besides, if you want to make it a daily ritual, add a few saffron strands to a cup of hot water or hot milk. However, to enjoy the flavor of saffron, it is crucial to keep on experimenting.

Bottom line:

Your health is your responsibility. However, eating tasteless and flavorless healthy foods doesn’t make sense. So, a few strands of saffron spice flavor can change the game. Explore different brands that sell premium quality saffron both online and offline. Research their quality, compare the prices, and get yourself a couple of packets.