Saffron is the gold of spices. Precious and rare, Saffron comes from a lovely violet crocus. During the two-week fall flowering period, only the three stigmas of each flower are hand-picked and carefully dried. It takes about 225,000 stigmas picked from 75,000 flowers to produce one pound of Saffron. Pervasively fragrant and intensely flavored, a small pinch of Saffron pleasantly flavors an entire dish. Italian risottos, Spanish chicken and rice, French seafood stews and Scandinavian sweet breads are just a few of the classic Saffron scented dishes.