Holy Retail!

[bjarvis]

Kent & I went out to do a little grocery shopping tonight, largely so that we had semi-healthy snacks for our pending weekend in Pennsylvania for square dancing.

While checking through the spice display to see if there's some arrangement of organic molecules not yet in Kent's collection :-^, he pointed out the price for saffron. The package, weighing 0.004 ounces costs $2.79. What caught my eye was the unit price: this comes to $637.71 per pound!

I will never complain about the price of a gallon of gasoline again.

Comments

[excessor.livejournal.com]

I saw in some TV special once that saffron is the one of the highest-priced commodities for sale, on the basis of money per unit weight.

[rticboy.livejournal.com]

Saffron is the most expensive item of food ever. You only need a tiny bit of it when you are using it. None of this sprinkling it on like salt or pepper.

[bjarvis.livejournal.com]

I knew it was expensive, but not that expensive. Wow.

[madknits.livejournal.com]

Saffron has to be collected by hand, from one specific plant. it can only be collected at certain times of the year. It is very labour intensive.

Thankfully, a little goes a long way.

[kent4str.livejournal.com]

Yup - it's the stamens from a certain poppy, hand-snipped when the pollen count is at its maximum. It's the pollen that adds the flavor and amazingly bright yellow color.

Yeah, he did marry me for my brains, why do you ask?

[bjarvis.livejournal.com]

Yeah, he did marry me for my brains, why do you ask?

Um, sure, let's go with that... :-)

[rsc.livejournal.com]

it's the stamens from a certain poppy

I had thought it was a certain crocus... and Google tells me that I was right. Yesterday after noon all our crocuses were out in all their glory (as they probably are again today, but I haven't checked), and I noticed that there were several of what looked to my inexpert eye like honeybees visiting them, which led me to wonder if somewhere nearby saffron honey was being made. Although in all likelihood these aren't the right kind of crocus.

[rsc.livejournal.com]

I am reminded of a New Yorker cartoon from, oh, maybe 1960 or so: Well-dressed couple in posh-looking perfume shop, wife considering small bottle of perfume, appalled husband says, "Do you realize that works out to about $750 a fifth?"

(I've never bought perfume, but I expect that these days $30/oz. isn't particularly expensive.)