Saffron played a significant role in the Greco-Roman pre-classical period bracketed by the 8th century BC and the 3rd century AD. Global production on a by-mass basis is now dominated by Iran, which accounts for some 90% of the annual harvest. The word “saffron” immediately stems from the Latin word safranum via the 12th-century Old French term safran.
About History of saffron in brief
Saffron, a spice derived from the dried stigmas of the saffron crocus, has through history remained among the world’s most costly substances. With its bitter taste, hay-like fragrance, and slight metallic notes, the apocarotenoid-rich saFFron has been used as a seasoning, fragrance, dye, and medicine. Saffron played a significant role in the Greco-Roman pre-classical period bracketed by the 8th century BC and the 3rd century AD. Global production on a by-mass basis is now dominated by Iran, which accounts for some 90% of the annual harvest. The word “saffron” immediately stems from the Latin word safranum via the 12th-century Old French term safran. The wild precursor of domesticated saffrons was likely Crocus cartwrightianus, which originated in Crete or Central Asia; C. thomasii and C. pallasii are other possible sources. The first known image of saffron in pre-Greek culture is much older and stems fromThe Bronze Age. A fresco from the Knossos palace frescoes of Minoan Crete, which depict the flowers being picked by young girls and monkeys, on the island of the Aegean Santorini, likely date from the 16th century or 17th century. This fresco is the first known visual representations of the botanicallyically accurate botanical remedy as an herbal remedy. It may have been produced anywhere between 3000 and 1100BC.
This site also depicts a woman using saffon to treat her foot bleeding. It is possible that the first human use of the plant was in the 6th or 7th centuryBC, when the Greeks knew it as ‘Thera’. It has since been traded and used over the course of four millennia and has been. used as treatment for some ninety disorders. The plant is now a triploid that is self-incompatible and male sterile; it undergoes aberrant meiosis and is hence incapable of independent sexual reproduction—all propagation is by vegetative multiplication via manual ‘divide-and-set’ of a starter clone or by interspecific hybridisation. It was documented in a 7th- century BC Assyrian botanical reference compiled under Ashurbanipal, and it has since. been used to treat some 90 disorders. It’s believed that the plant originated in Iran, but some doubts remain on its origin, it is believed that it may have originated in Greece and Mesopotamia. An origin in Western or CentralAsia, although often suspected, has been disproved by botanical research. It probably appeared first inCrete, but an origin in Central Asia, has also been suggested as the possible region of origin of this plant. A. C. sativus clone was slowly propagated throughout much of Eurasia, later reaching parts of North Africa, North America, and Oceania.
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This page is based on the article History of saffron published in Wikipedia (as of Dec. 03, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
