What does saffron taste like? How to identify the authenticity
Saffron is a very common traditional Chinese medicine. It is commonly used in countries like Iran, but rarely cultivated in China. Its flowers are purple-red or bluish-purple, not bright red anyway. Everyone remembers it, and it smells like a special aroma. Its effect is similar to that of grass safflower , but the effect is more intense, so use it with caution. In addition, saffron has the effects of removing blood stasis, relieving pain, and calming the nerves, and is often used to treat female diseases.
1. What does saffron taste like?
Freshly picked flowers are very fragrant and smell sweet. Dried saffron is like fermented grains, with a strong sweet and sour taste. Dried flowers are golden in colour when soaked in water. They are slightly sweet or tasteless in the mouth and taste a bit like traditional Chinese medicine.
On the other hand, saffron has a sweeter taste and tastes slightly sweet when soaked in water, without any feeling of warmth or coldness. Therefore, using a small amount may not make a big difference in taste.
Authentic saffron has a special floral aroma, while counterfeit products have a very light or even no taste, and sometimes other flavors appear.
2. Methods to identify authenticity
1.Look
Nowadays, there are many kinds of counterfeit products, some are made from corn stalks and some are made from radishes. Put the saffron on a white paper towel. After drying, the real saffron is very fragile, but even if it is broken, it will still have the shape of a trumpet. Counterfeit products do not have such a shape. In addition, the length of the real saffron will not exceed two centimetres.
2. Smell
Authentic saffron has a unique smell that is very natural and strong. The taste of fake products is shallow or even odourless. The unique fragrance of saffron can be smelled in pharmacies.
3. Soak in water
Take a little saffron and soak it in water. If the water is golden yellow, there are no other sediments, the crimson flowers do not fade, and the water remains the same when stirred, then it is true. If the water turns red or other colors, or the soaked saffron becomes broken, it is fake.
4.Squeeze
When buying saffron, cover a little saffron with tissue paper and squeeze it hard. Fake saffron will leave oil marks on the paper after being squeezed, but there is no real trace of oil on the paper.
There are many ways to identify authenticity, but no matter which method is guaranteed to be useful, because the current fake technology is too sophisticated, it is better to go to a regular large drugstore to buy insurance, and don't be greedy for cheap. If you want to buy imported saffron, make sure it is imported through formal channels.
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