The next most expensive spice? Vanilla, at about $600 a pound ... But harvesting all of that saffron comes at a price. Ghalehgolabbehbahani: Why Iran is the main producer of saffron?
Instead the plant must be propagated and harvested manually, a laborious undertaking that Bronze Age Greeks are believed to have pioneered and that helps account for its price. Today saffron is ...
Rumi Spice sells its saffron - higher grade than the one from my kitchen cupboard - for $18 (£14) per gram. Mr Alaniz says saffron's high price tag is the reason it has so much promise in war ...