Saffron was used as an ingredient in many of the complicated medicines of early times. According to Gerard “the moderate use of it is good for the head and maketh the sences more quicke and lively. It shaketh off heavie and drowsy sleep and maketh a man mery.” It appears to be really a stimulant and antispasmodic, though its powers are slight. It is scarcely ever employed by modern pharmacists unless for the mere coloration of other tinctures, or at most as a cordial adjunct to other medicines. That it was very largely used in cookery is evidenced by many writers; thus Laurenbergius (Apparatus Plantarum, 1632) makes the large assertion “In re familiare vix ullus est telluris habitatus angulus ubi non sit croci quotidiana usurpatio aspersi vel incocti cibis.” The Chinese used also to employ it largely, and the Persians and Spaniards still m ix it with their rice. As a perfume it was strewn in Greek halls, courts, and theatres, and in the Roman baths. The streets of Rome were sprinkled with saffron when Nero made his entry into the city.

It was, however, mainly used as a dye. It was a royal colour in early Greek times, though afterwards perhaps from its abundant use in the baths, and as a scented salve, it was especially appropriated by the hetairae. In ancient Ireland a king’s mantle was dyed with saffron, and even down to the 17th century the “lein-croich,” or saffron-dyed shirt, was worn by persons of rank in the Hebrides. In mediaeval illumination it furnished, as a glaze upon burnished tinfoil, a cheap and effective substitute for gold. The sacred spot on the forehead of a Hindu pundit is also partly composed of it. Its main use in England was to colour pastry and confectionery,—hence “I must have saffron to colour the Warden pies” (Winter’s Tale, act iv. sc. i.),—and it is still often added to butter and cheese. One grain of saffron rubbed to powder with sugar and a little water imparts a distinctly yellow tint to ten gallons of water. This colouring power is due to the presence of polychlorite, a substance whose chemical formula appears to be C 48 H 60 O 18 , and which may be obtained by treating saffron with ether, and afterwards exhausting with water. Under acids it yields the following reaction—

C 48 H 60 O 18 + H 2 O = 2(C 16 H 18 O 6 ) + c 10 h 14 o + c 6 h 12 o 6 ·

Polj’clilorite. Crocin. Essential oil. Sugar.

Crocin, according to Watts, Dict, of Chem., has a composition of C 29 H 42 O 15 or C 58 H 42 O 30 . This crocin is a red colouring matter, and it is surmised that the red colour of the stigmas is due to this reaction taking place in nature.

At present saffron is chiefly cultivated in Spain, France, Sicily, on the lower spurs of the Apennines, and in Persia and Kashmir. The ground has to be thoroughly cleared of stones, manured, and trenched, and the corms are planted in ridges. The flowers are gathered at the end of October, in the early morning, just when they are beginning to open after the night. The stigmas and a part of the style are carefully picked out, and the wet saffron is then scattered on sheets of paper to a depth of 2 or 3 inches; over this a cloth is laid, and next a board with a heavy weight. A strong heat is applied for about two hours so as to make the saffron “sweat,” and a gentler temperature for a further period of twenty-four hours, the cake being turned every hour so that every part is thoroughly dried. It is calculated that the stigmas of about 4300 flowers are required to give an ounce of saffron; but the experiments of Chappellier indicate a possibility of greatly increasing the yield by the cultivation of monstrous forms.

The drug has naturally always been liable to great adulteration in spite of penalties, the severity of which suggests the surviving tradition of its sacred character. Thus in Nuremberg a regular saffron inspection was held, and in the 15th century we read of men being burned in the market-place along with their adulterated saffron, while on another occasion three persons convicted of the same crime were buried alive. Grease and butter are still very frequently mixed with the cake and shreds of beef dipped in saffron water are also used. Good saffron is distinguished by its deep orange-red colour; if it is light yellow or blackish, it is bad or too old. It should also have a peculiar and rather powerful odour, and a bitter pungent taste. If oily it is probably adulterated with butter or grease.

See Flückiger and Hanbury, Pharmocographia, and Maw, Monograph of the genus Crocus, upon which the preceding account is essentially based; also Pereira, Materia Medica, and the pharmacopoeias.

The original name of the town was Wealdenberg, and when it received a grant of a market in the time of Geoffrey de Mandeville it was called Cheping Walden. The substitution of the prefix Saffron is accounted for by the former culture of Saffron (q.v.) in the neighbourhood. The town has existed for more than 500 years as a guild, and the government is now vested in a mayor, four aldermen, and twelve 'councillors.