There is probably no flower all over the world with richer history than saffron. Still ancient Egyptians as well as their counterparts inhabiting Sumer were familiar with saffron and its properties. Thanks to Greek travellers and merchants saffron gradually reached the Roman Empire. In the Dark Ages it was almost forgotten, only to be revived by the Crusaders coming back from the Arab world in the 11th century. Spain and France were the first European countries falling into so-called "saffron culture." In the 14th century, saffron reached Switzerland, Germany and gradually penetrated to territory of nowadays Slovakia. Saffron’s present name is derived from the Arabic expression "za fran," meaning to be yellow.
Why have we decided to mention this plant in a separate chapter? Well, the reasons are plentiful. In the past, saffron was valued as an essential spice (extremely dear, by the way), fragrance, a dye (containing a substance called krocin, preserving its dying qualities even when diluted to 1:100,000). Moreover, saffron "eau de toilette" was commonly being sprayed in spas, theatres, even in Roman arenas and was added to bathing pools. Furthermore, it was used in confectionery and baking, in cosmetics, as a food colouring agent and as a famous saffron essential oil.
Only a tiny proportion of the whole plant could be used to produce just described highly desired saffron substance. This tiny bit is called stigma, used in a dried condition. Imagine how many of these organs were necessary to produce 1 kilogram of dried matter. Can’t? We will help you out. 80,000 up to 100,000 flowers were needed to fill in a sack weighing the mentioned value. 4 kg of dried saffron could be collected from 1 hectare (2.471 acre) of saffron plantation. No wonder, "our grandmas" used to say; rare as saffron or it’s as sparse as saffron.
Coming home, there is one saffron species called Crocus Heuffelianus naturally present in the mountain regions of Slovakia. It takes its name after a Modra botanist and physician Jan Heuffel, who is credited for the general enlightenment in the area of Slovak flora, thanks to his identification and description of a great number of Slovak wild flowers. This delicate plant gave its name to people making a living out of its collection and trade. They were called "saffroners" or in Slovak safranici. This honourable "occupation" was mainly common in one part of Slovakia named Turiec. As a peculiarity, saffron was even used to give colour to homemade butter being sold on local markets. According to written evidence from Presov, "saffron" butter was still sold here even after the First World War.