Do you remember my staging for Casa del Teatro?
In the kitchen, the gray palette was lit by the red of the saffron. Rare and noble spice, red gold: saffron is the typical product of Città della Pieve. Its cultivation dates back to the second half of the 1200s and today it sees dozens of farms engaged in the Consorzio Il Croco by Pietro Perugino Zafferano of Città della Pieve.
As a Guest of the owners of Casa del Teatro, today I am visiting the site of “Podere della Quercia” farm, engaged in the harvesting of this rare and precious spice. Here they produce a high quality organic olive oil and of course… saffron!
Once I have put my boots on in a misty and evocative Monday morning, I set off with Heidi towards the olive grove. We meet Stefano, holding a basket full of beautiful purple flowers, those of the Crocus sativus. He just picked them at the farm lowest plant. Now it’s the turn of those grown among olive trees. And here I cross the field (literally)!
The harvest must take place in the early hours of the morning, when the flowers are still closed, so as not to lose their properties. Stefano explains to me how to remove the flower from the plant, and in the meantime, curious, I ask a few questions. I so discover that the crocuses are harvested from mid-October to mid-November. It starts with a few flowers a day to reach the peak period with 8-10,000 flowers a day, depending on the plant.
After harvesting the red stigmas are removed by hand (each flower has 3), and then dried. The whole procedure must be completed throughout the day. It takes many hours to get the stigmas. Just to make you understand the preciousness of this red gold spice : it takes about 160-200 flowers to make 1 gram of saffron, based on the size of the stigmas.
Here at Podere della Quercia, where saffron cultivation began in 2011, the annual harvest of finished product ranges from 250 to 400 grams.
The bulbs are of certified organic origin and are planted with new ones every year, moving the cultivation on another plot of land to have an optimal exploitation of the land. At Podere della Quercia the plants are both in the open field and within the olive grove. An essential characteristic is that the soil is not very clayey and with a good drainage capacity, so as to avoid fungal diseases or rotting of the bulbs. Heidi and Stefano have run the company since 2008. The saffron produced is part of the Consorzio Il Croco by Pietro Perugino Zafferano of Città della Pieve, while other products, such as the Saffron and Crocus Chocolate Petals, the herbal tea, are part of the project conceived and promoted by Associazione Produttori Zafferano Italiano.
Olive branches and blades of grass are home to hundreds of cobwebs, highlighted by the dew that bathes them. From this misty morning I leave with an incredible experience, which Heidi and Stefano also offer to their guests, organizing visits with flower collection and final tasting of the company’s products. Because there are moments that deserve to be shared!
