Saffron Fragrance

While the flavor of saffron is recognizable among a thousand others, its fragrance can be hard to decipher: spicy, floral, leathery, woody, honeyed—and so much more.

The Red Gold 

Few other spices have such a fiery look. Growing low to the ground, saffron in full bloom sets autumn ablaze. In its pale-purple flowers—bell-shaped beauties—spring three stamens loaded with yellow pollen and three dentate stigmas of flaming vermillion. Once dried, the stigmas alone deliver saffron’s delicately bitter flavor, sweet and sun-drenched. Everything they touch turns to gold. In Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale, doesn’t the Shepherd’s Son, preparing for a feast, say he must have saffron to color his pies?  “Saffron is my cinnamon!” says Guy Martin, chef at Le Grand Véfour in Paris. He slips some into his gâteau de Savoie, with orange-blossom honey and thyme, or marries it with pineapple. For Alain Passard, at L’Arpège, saffron is “more a scent than a flavor, with its aged-red-wine aspect, and its lovely floral, resinous expression.” Meanwhile, Pascal Barbot is fond of blending saffron with cardamom; he finds the result to be like “a whole candy store, and with the aroma of warm brioche, almost buttery.” In a saffron-flavored broth, Barbot strives to create “a pretty mauve” crocus color by blending in raspberries, black currents, and rose syrup.

Crocus Sativus

A rare spice, born from a flower (Crocus sativus), saffron has spoken to us since time immemorial. Together with rose and orange, the word saffron shares the honor of referring at once to color, flavor, and scent. “Everything you do when you smell saffron is connected to its color,” notes Serge Lutens, who blends it with rose and cedar. “It’s a cool fire.” Safran Troublant (2006), by L’Artisan Parfumeur, takes the spice road, with vanilla, saffron, ginger, and nutmeg layered over sandalwood. Spicebomb (2012), by Victor & Rolf, presents a fiery saffron, shot through with tobacco and amber. More recently, Haltane (2021), by Parfums de Marly, melds saffron with fresh notes of lavender, bergamot, and clary sage, braced by oud and cedar.

Combine Candora’s Saffron with Iris for a truly noble blend. Or with Red Berries, explore its gracious side. And with Cedar, highlight Saffron’s woody aspect.