Category: Architecture

It’s the saffron season in Kashmir. Its late October. It is that time of the year again, when the Pampore plateau, a few Kilometers’ southeast of Srinagar, presents a breathtaking sight. The fields are full of small purple-colored flowers that produce the most expensive & exotic Spice in the world, saffron better known as Kesar in India. There is joy in the air, as hundreds of men, women and children pluck the Flowers and put them in their wicker baskets. They are mostly cultivators and their families. They have to work fast the flowers have to be picked hours after they reach Full bloom. Once they wilt, they are useless. Plucking the flowers requires extreme care, but picking what is inside them requires more dexterity. Every flower must be held in one hand. The other turns back The purple petal and lift from each flower the red stigmas. Every flowers has three red stigmas (the female part), two stamens (the male part), And a long white stem connecting all of these to the main flower. The stigmas are carefully dried in the sun to remove excess water. Impurities are removed by winnowing and passing it through sieves. It is then Graded for different qualities and packed in moisture-proof containers. The kind of hard work that is required can be gauged from the fact that it is only after stripping about 150,000 flowers that a kilogram of saffron is obtained. The moonlit nights of November in this region have melted many a hearts in this valley of flowers.