Although its origins are disputed, Crocus sativus probably first poked its pretty violet head above ground in Asia Minor, and it was in Iran where they learnt that its bright-red stigmas gave intriguing flavour and imparted a golden glow to all manner of dishes.
Later, the saffron from that flower became an essential ingredient in risotto alla milanese and paella valenciana, having hitched a ride to Spain and Italy with the Moors.
And now it's being farmed by Greg and Katrin Dixon in the remote and beautiful Capertee Valley, south-east of Mudgee. But before we get into that story, a little background.
Crocus sativus is an autumn-flowering perennial, with a blue-to-violet flower. Its stigmas are gathered and dried to make saffron. When dried, the stigmas are dark red, and give dishes in which they are used a warm yellow to golden orange colour. Saffron has a sweet, woody, pleasantly bitter flavour and a distinctive aroma.
About $3000 a kilogram for the best Iranian variety (Sargol), saffron is one of the most expensive foods on Earth. That's because the stigmas can only be picked by hand, and about 140,000 flowers are required to produce one kilogram of saffron. Luckily, only a small amount - from 10 to 30 stigmas - is needed for one dish.
The story of Capertee Valley saffron began when Greg, then a fireman, broke his back while fighting a fire. ''We were living in the Blue Mountains - I couldn't work for four years, so I had a lot of time to sit and think,'' he says. ''We'd always dreamed of having a farm and Katrin found this place and fell in love with it. The day we signed the contract, we found out Katrin was pregnant.''
They had Millie (now almost three) and, while Katrin was working as a community nurse, they also had a farm and a mortgage, so they had to find something to do. ''When we thought about something that nobody else around here is doing,'' Greg says, ''we came up with saffron.''
They discovered it needed extreme heat and extreme cold, didn't use much water, was relatively hardy - and very expensive. In 2010 they put in 1350 bulbs (or corms) and harvested about 10 grams. This year, they planted 100,000 bulbs and harvested about 190 grams.
In the valley, because of the heat, the plants flower early, in April and May. ''We're flat out for three weeks from the first flowering, and flowering is over by the end of May,'' Greg says. Katrin is the picker and she can handle it on her own at the moment because they're only growing 30,000 flowers.
''I nip the flower off at the base, taking a little bit of stalk'' she says, ''and separate the stigmas between two petals and just pull down. I save the flower because we're hoping to make a saffron tea.'' They leave the yellow part - the style - on ''because it looks good and when you dry it, it also has saffron flavour''.
The Dixons sell the dried stigmas for $12 for a vial holding 0.3 of a gram, enough to colour and flavour three dishes, such as a risotto or a paella. It can also be added to the poaching liquid for pears. It is used in the seafood soup bouillabaisse, and adds flavour and colour to chicken dishes and Moroccan tagines.
Katrin prepares it by placing the amount needed ''onto a piece of baking paper in a cold pan, then putting the heat on high and moving the stigmas around with your fingers so they don't burn. When you can smell it and it goes dark red, take the paper out of the pan, grind it down and add it to two to three tablespoons of warm water. You should be careful not to use too much, as the flavour can become bitter and medicinal.''
The Dixons have about half a hectare under saffron at the moment but they'd like to end up with 25 hectares. ''We've got a five-year plan,'' Greg says. ''We're now a year-and-a-half into it and everything's going really well.''
And that's good for us because locally grown saffron means guaranteed quality; substitution and inferior quality in the imported product is not unknown.
Chef test
We gave some of the Capertee Valley saffron to the head chef at Balla, Tuscan-born Gabriele Taddeucci, to try in a risotto alla milanese. Here is what he had to say.
''I have never used the Australian saffron, only Italian and Iranian. To be honest with you, I was a bit surprised at the beginning that it didn't release as much colour. But as it was cooking, the smell was very intense. And the flavour when I finished was amazing. I asked my sommelier, Fabio Danzi, to try it. He said it was sensational and asked if the saffron was Italian. I'd use one vial [0.3 of a gram] for risotto for two people.''
You can buy Capertee Valley saffron and saffron products online at caperteevalleysaffron.com.au or at Weber's Nursery at Blackheath.