saffron
ingredient / ingredient-saffron
サフラン / Crocus sativus L.
Saffron is a spice made from dried stigmas of saffron, a plant of the iris family. Its bitterness is attributed mainly to the monoterpene glycoside picrocrocin.
On this page (9 sections)
Reading the bitterness
Saffron is a spice made from the dried stigmas of Crocus sativus, a crocus in the iris family. One study identifies picrocrocin as the compound mainly responsible for saffron's bitterness and was designed to measure its threshold systematically. The abstract states that the study tested picrocrocin in aqueous and ethanolic solutions and also examined application to commercial saffron infusions; this account is limited to the abstract.
A review explains that ISO 3632 quality grades use an indicator corresponding to picrocrocin-derived bitterness. It gives thresholds for category I (70 or above), category II (55), and category III (40), based on spectrophotometry at 257 nm. This summary in the review cites the standard and prior literature.
A prior study cited in the review is reported to have chemically analyzed samples stored from 1 year to more than 4 years and found that, during storage, picrocrocin loses its sugar residue and changes into HTCC and safranal. Fresh samples were described as having higher crocin and picrocrocin concentrations and stored samples higher safranal concentrations; fresh samples were reported as more bitter. No numerical measure of bitterness intensity from a sensory panel is given, however, and the cited original study was not checked.
Sources for this overview
Sensory Threshold Studies of Picrocrocin, the Major Bitter Compound of Saffron
Checked for this overview: The study design measuring the threshold of picrocrocin as saffron's main bitter compound.
Detection of Saffron's Main Bioactive Compounds and Their Relationship with Commercial Quality
Checked for this overview: The criteria for ISO quality categories I, II, and III based on indicator values. / Changes in picrocrocin during storage and the stronger bitterness of fresh samples.
Other names: Crocus sativus L. (la)
Follow the connections
saffron →— major bitter compound→ picrocrocin
Structured claims — open a section to read each claim's confidence, evidence and limits
Composition and content (1)
Scope: Layer: literature. A review citing a prior study by Sereshti et al. based on chemical analysis of saffron samples with different storage durations.
Note: A second-hand citation (reference [81] in the review). This adds the relation among storage duration, picrocrocin concentration, and bitterness.
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ingredient-saffron —has_perceived_bitterness_affected_by→ "It has been reported that fresh saffron samples are more bitter than long-stored samples because picrocrocin loses its sugar residue during storage and changes into HTCC and safranal."Sensory (1)
Scope: Research on the bitterness of saffron and its water- and ethanol-based extracts
Show data
ingredient-saffron —has_major_bitter_compound→ compound-picrocrocinSafety and regulation (1)
Scope: Layer: literature. A review summarizing quality grades under ISO 3632-1:2011 and ISO 3632-2:2010.
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ingredient-saffron —is_classified_by→ "Under ISO 3632, saffron quality is graded using an indicator corresponding to picrocrocin-derived bitterness: category I (70 or above), category II (55), and category III (40)."