URI researchers: Rhode Island conditions excellent for growing world’s most expensive spice
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PostedNovember 6, 2019
Close-up of the crocus-like saffron flower KINGSTON, R.I. – November 6, 2019 – Saffron is the world’s most expensive spice, selling for about $5,000 per pound at wholesale rates, and 90 percent of the global saffron harvest comes from Iran. But University of Rhode Island agriculture researchers have found that Ocean State farms have the potential to get a share of the market as demand for saffron in the United States grows. “Saffron isn’t commonly grown in the U.S.; the USDA doesn’t even track saffron production,” said Rebecca Brown, URI professor of plant sciences, who is overseeing a study to test how well the plant grows in Rhode Island. “It’s tolerant of arid conditions, which is why it’s mostly grown in the poor dry soils of southeastern Iran. But until the last couple years, no one had tried to grow it in southern New England’s moist rich soils.” A member of the crocus family and nicknamed Red Gold, saffron comes from drying the stigma in the flower of the 3- or 4-inch tall plants. The plant grows from a bulb-like corm, similar to tulips and daffodils, rather than from seeds, and each planted corm produces three additional corms every year, so it grows exponentially from year to year. “It’s a fall flowering plant and isn’t harvested until late October, so it extends the season for farmers whose growing season is mostly over by now,” said Rahmatallah Gheshm, a URI postdoctoral researcher who moved to Rhode Island with his family in 2016 after working as a vegetable seed producer and saffron grower in Iran for 27 years. URI Professor Rebecca Brown (left) and postdoctoral researcher Rahmatallah Gheshm pose in front of their experimental crop of saffron on the URI campus. Demand for saffron in the U.S. is growing significantly as more and more people from the Middle East and South Asia move here and as appreciation grows for Middle Eastern and Indian foods. In 2016, about 35 tons of saffron was imported into the United States, which is predicted to increase to 50 tons by 2021. In addition to its […]
