Saffron is a crocus that blooms in the autumn with violet-blue petals and a long, orange-red, three-lipped stigma (the tip of the pistil). Asia Minor is probably the original home of saffron. Through cultivation, however, in antiquity it soon spread to Persia and farther eastward. The Arabs brought saffron via Moorish Spain to Europe ; the crusaders brought it directly from the Orient. Today, saffron is still cultivated in Morocco , Spain , Switzerland , Iran and Kashmir . In 1977, a little was still being cultivated near the Turkish town of Safranbolu , whose magnificent wooden houses still reflect the prosperity that saffron's cultivation and trade once brought. Saffron thrives at altitudes above 3,300 feet and requires fertile soil.
