A History of Saffron - The most expensive spice in the world

A huge volcanic explosion...An city buried under tonnes of pumice and ash...No, we are not talking about Pompeii or Herculaneum, but another place and volcano, at least one thousand five hundred years before...An island civilization destroyed by a cataclysmic eruption around 1600 BCE, roughly 3600 years ago! Akrotiri, a town on the Greek island of Thera, (what we call now Santorini) was buried and forgotten till the 20th century.This unfortunate event for the Minoans, was great luck for us, as archaeologists unearthed an almost intact city. Amongst the many discoveries were many frescoes.And on some of them were depicted women picking saffron from crocus flowers! Which for the purposes of our episode today, is perhaps the oldest depiction of saffron picking ever!You see the spice of our discussion today, saffron from the flower crocus sativus it always had a magnetic attraction to humans!With it's vibrant golden colour, saffron was considered important as a medicine, dye and food. And it still is the most expensive spice in world! Worth almost $10,000 per kilo, it still holds it's importance in our cuisine!So to enlighten us and explore it's history I invited the food historian and author Sam Bilton who's book "Fool's Gold - A History of British Saffron" explores the fascinating story behind saffron in the British Isles! Let's find out more about the most valuable spice in the world, Saffron!Sam has recently released another book for The British Library series "The Philosophy of..." about Chocolate.You can find out more about her and her books and podcast here:https://www.sambilton.com/Enjoy!Thom & The Delicious LegacySupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/the-delicious-legacy. If you love to time-travel through food and history why not join us at https://plus.acast.com/s/the-delicious-legacy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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A Greek Gourmand, travels through time...Imagine yourself dining with Socrates, Plato, or Pythagoras! What tasty morsels of food accompanied the conversations of these most significant minds in Western philosophy?Now picture yourself as you sat for a symposium with Cicero, or Pliny the Elder or Julius Caesar. The opulent feasts of the decadent Romans!Maybe, you're following Alexander the Great during his military campaigns in Asia for ten years. Conquering the vast Persian empire, while discovering new foods. Or try and picture the richness of fruits and vegetables in the lush Hanging Gardens of Babylon.What foods did our ancestors ate?How did all begin? Who was the first to write a recipe down and why? Sauces, ingredients, ways of cooking. Timeless and continuous yet unique and so alien to us now days. Staple ingredients of the Mediterranean world -as we think now- like tomatoes, potatoes, rice, peppers, didn't exist. What did they eat? We will travel far and wide, reconstructing the diet, the feasts, the dishes of a Greek Philosopher in a symposium in Athens, or a Roman Emperor or as a rich merchant in the last night in Pompeii.....Lavish dinners, exotic spices, so-called "barbaric" traditions of beer and milk, all intertwined...Stay tuned and find out more here, in 'The Delicious Legacy' Podcast!Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/the-delicious-legacy. If you love to time-travel through food and history why not join us at https://plus.acast.com/s/the-delicious-legacy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.