Saffron needs a soak
Saffron threads are dried flower stigmas. Crocin gives the gold color, safranal the aroma, and both have to move out of the thread into liquid. Crush a pinch, steep it in warm liquid for at least 10 minutes, then add all of it.
Three compounds, three jobs
Crocin gives the color, picrocrocin a faintly bitter edge, safranal the hay-and-honey aroma. Each flower has only three stigmas, so a small jar takes thousands of flowers. That's why a pinch is enough for a pot.
Test yourself
Questions from the interactive lesson, with the answer and the why.
You toss dry saffron threads into rice just before serving and get a few orange streaks in pale rice. Why?
The threads never soaked, so little color and aroma left them. Crocin and safranal need liquid time to leave the thread and spread.
True or false: Steeping saffron in warm liquid lets its color spread through the whole dish.
True. Crocin dissolves into the liquid, which then carries the color everywhere you stir it.
Fill the blank: The compound that turns saffron dishes gold is ___.
The compound that turns saffron dishes gold is crocin. Crocin is the pigment that dissolves out of the threads.
What went wrong? You boil saffron threads hard in the pot for 40 minutes. The finished dish smells faint.
Hard boiling drove off the volatile aroma compounds. Safranal is volatile. Steep warm, then add near the end of cooking.
Dinner is at 7 and you want golden, fragrant rice. When do you start the saffron?
Around 6:30, crushed and steeping in warm water. A 10 to 30 minute soak releases crocin and safranal before the rice meets them.