Lots of rice dishes call for saffron: paella, some risottos. Indian and Persian dishes. Chicken and fish dishes. I just use when I think it might work. Soak in a little warm liquid first.

I grew up using saffron, but more powdered or chopped, and tiptop quality than whole threads. Either way, though, as Floral said, the best way to distribute and make the most of it, is to bloom it in warm water (or watery liquid).. IME, it takes about 10 minutes, and if you have a cool kitchen, put it someplace a little warm. For a meal for four, one or two threads--fresh from the harvest, I'd guess one. You can use your water as cooking liquid, like for rice. You can also use it to build a sauce. I too mostly use it in baking, but it's excellent in savory dishes, but will be lost if there are a lot of aromatics, An onion, sure, just not the whole garden. ;) Roots, which tend sweet anyway, better than greens. Look at Persian and Indian recipes. You can adapt them to your way of cooking, and preferred ingredients. Just try to imagine the ingredients together with it. Like lamb, yes, with paprika and thyme, maybe. I can't imagine it going well with beef, but I think it would work with duck.

^I was thinking the same as floral…rice or risotto. Chicken would be good. I recently saw a recipe for a chicken and chorizo paella with saffron. It’s been a while but I used it for an Ina G recipe for mussels in a wine sauce that was tasty. Fish and seafood dishes can be very good with saffron.

I was intrigued by Chloebud's suggestion and found this: https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/mussels-with-saffron-cream-13126811

It sounds delicious, and you could sub just about anything for the mussels, if you'd like to try it as a general thing, but not the tsp. of saffron threads! I get it, with all those aromatics, you have to bump it up. But that would be the cheap saffron from the grocery store that comes in a relative large volume (1 cup?) plastic bag, just hanging out there, not behind the manager's locked door. If you use this recipe, do sone other, familiar things with your new saffron and figure out its intensity. Wasting a lot of it in one dish would be sad, not to mention, likely way out of balance if you have a different grade. I also have no notion how much a teaspoon is--loose? Packed? With hand picked stamens, I'm respectful of it.

This was the recipe I used. The saffron threads I had were in a little envelope inside a glass jar. I’d had them for some time. Not sure how much life they still had, but the end result was good.

Mussels in White Wine

The saffron I have right now from TJ’s in the attached pic is also pretty old.🥴 It might have been $5 or $6 making the quality questionable. Cute little corked jar.

I tried growing it in my garden one year. It didn't like the "too" cold climate. But I had fresh saffron when it first came up. I found ANY white sauce or Alfredo...benefited from it. ❤️ Lucky you!!!

Saffron lasts pretty well in correct storage. If it comes in a jar, it's not the super cheap stuff, i.e., ,pretty good.

I love saffron...

Richard Olney 'Eggplant Custard' is one of my favorites whenever we can find nice eggplants.

In addition to paella, tahdig has been very fun to make (I've followed Samin Nosrat for that)

Yotam Ottolenghi has a 'saffron tagliatelle with spiced butter' recipe that I've enjoyed a few times

our friends did lavender honey on mandarins for christmas, wonder if saffron honey would be nice that way.

This looks good https://www.instagram.com/reel/DAHOrsDssVE/

I looked at and saved the eggplant custard recipe. It's actually eggplant in custard, which sounds more appealing, though cooked eggplant puree in the custard could have potential, especially if charred. :) And it uses 1/8 tsp. saffron, which is more what I'm used to, but that's the powder, so a lot denser in the spoon compared to threads.

Thanks for that clarification - I enjoy frying the eggplant slices and tomato slices in that recipe, it gives me an excuse to pull out the large cast iron skillet :))

Interesting idea about the eggplant itself made into custard, like baba ghanoush, add eggs and cream and bake with with saffron? ,sounds good - maybe I'll try that

I've always used a generous pinch of threads despite the recipe calling for powder.

(edited to expand on the eggplant custard thought)

I’ve only used the threads in paella. I do use about 10 as I like to taste the saffron, always crush and start in warm water.

I don't use it very much, I've made saffron rice and paella, but not much else. The saffron honey sounds very interesting, though.

Nicole, I considered planting the saffron crocus here too, but Territorial Seed says they are hardy through zone 6 and I'm in 5a. Then I thought of how little I use and picking each little stamen off the crocus flower, and considered that each bloom has THREE stems of saffron. I decided maybe it wasn't such a great idea after all. The flowers are very pretty, though, and apparently bloom in the fall which is different from the crocus I grow here which blossoms in spring.

Annie

Am I the only one that thinks it's entirely over-rated? Very expensive, not very tasty and I can think of better things to spend my money on? ..........

Islay, it depends on the quality of the saffron. Or it may be something that you taste differently than I. Or it's the recipes. When I serve a dish made with saffron, people rave. It is possible that biochemically, you're tasting exactly the same thing I am, but just don't like it, but it's beyond my imagination. It's okay if you do. You can substitute another savory flavor. I think fenugreek might work in most situations, or if you want something less assertive, even dry coriander might work.

@Islay Corbel...A lot of people "grow" saffron, Crocus Sativus, in their garden. It's a pretty little thang, Zone 6. It's also a great gift to give a cook. A tiny bit goes a long way. Even Walmart sells the bulbs.

@annie1992...I purchased the bulbs, they came up and bloomed in the Fall...got to harvest.....then they never came back. Yep, 3 strands, but a whole dish would only use 3 strands. I'm in a zone 5A too. I might find a micro-climate next to the foundation & try it again. You can even buy seeds and start them indoors. My Orchids are growing like gangbusters indoors....hhhmmm...........threads like this get me on the gardening track. I grow Basil indoors. ❤️

Honestly, I don't use saffron - I mostly use turmeric for savory dishes.

A number of Tasting History's recipes call for saffron - esp. medieval ones. It's a YouTube channel whose host makes recipes from the past along with a history lesson:

https://www.tastinghistory.com/search?q=saffron&f_collectionId=63cde38cbd14d66a8de2e196