How to replace saffron in a recipe: similar seasonings and spices

2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:14

Currently, saffron is one of the best spices, which not only give the dish an incredibly pleasant taste, but also a slight orange-golden hue. However, the real spice obtained from the dried stigmas of the flowers of the sowing crocus is quite difficult to acquire in Russia, and it will be very expensive. That is why, taking care of their budget, housewives quite often wonder what can be used to replace saffron in a dish so that it has a pleasant taste and golden color. Existing substitutes will be discussed in this article.

Useful properties of saffron

Before talking about how to replace saffron in a recipe, you should understand what this seasoning is and what its features are, so that later you can make the most adequate replacement.

Among the mainuseful properties of the spice can be mentioned:

• normalization of mental and emotional state;
• improvement of the gastrointestinal tract;
• purification of the circulatory system;
• strengthening immunity;
• normalization of the menstrual cycle.

So if you regularly add saffron to various dishes, you can cope with diseases that affect the kidneys and liver, cardiovascular and respiratory systems, and also prevent the development of cancer. In addition, it has been observed that saffron is an excellent fat burner, allowing you to get rid of excess weight.

Taste properties

Natural saffron is so expensive not only because it is difficult to harvest. This Indian spice has an original and unique aroma. It is floral, but at the same time it gives off notes of freshly cut grass and a sharp bitterness of honey. When you eat a dish with this seasoning, you can literally feel warm and cozy. However, you need to use it very carefully, because if you overdo it too much, then the medicinal taste and aroma will begin to appear, which will simply ruin the dish.

But if you use high-quality seasoning correctly, then it will certainly make the dish unique and "revive" it. Although it is better to refuse to buy cheap saffron, since the old product or with the addition of impurities will not do any good.

Saffron in cooking

Most often saffron is used in dishes where rice comes to the fore. However, if desired, he canIt is advantageous to be used in any food, giving meat, poultry or fish a very bright aroma and taste. However, in order not to overpower the flavors, saffron is recommended to be added about five or ten minutes before the end of cooking. This will prevent the essential oils from completely evaporating.

Also, saffron is popular because of its color. This magnificent dye is able to give the dish an eye-catching golden-red hue. So if you add it to baking, then it will immediately get not only an unusual taste and aroma that you will definitely like, but also a pleasant color.

Due to the high cost of spices, it is more rarely added to a variety of drinks: coffee, liqueurs, wines, tea and even mulled wine. They instantly transform from ordinary drinks to gourmet.

Replacement options

In order to get 1 kg of saffron, you have to manually collect about 70 thousand flowers. So the original has a very high price, which is affordable only for we althy segments of the population. That is why, if you want to make your dishes the most original, you should definitely ask yourself how to successfully replace saffron seasoning.

At the moment, it is customary to consider only three main replacement options. These include:

• turmeric;
• imperial saffron;
• safflower flower.

All of the above options mainly allow you to give the dish a color that is similar to the color of real saffron. However, it is impossible to achieve similar taste qualities, so try herenot even worth it. Analogues act more as dyes, because although they have similar characteristics, they cannot become a complete replacement. But you won't need to spend so much money.

Turmeric

The most common answer to the question of what to replace saffron with is turmeric. Its main difference is a weak burning taste with a slight bitterness reminiscent of ginger. Also, the spice has a subtle pleasant aroma, so often after cooking in a dish it is simply impossible to feel it. Among culinary experts around the world, it is turmeric that is a cheap analogue of saffron, which allows you to get closer to obtaining a similar aroma and golden color.

Most commonly, turmeric is used in various baked goods or rice dishes. So it would be the perfect substitute for saffron in paella.

Also, if you want a more vibrant flavor, combine turmeric with cumin (jeera) and coriander. Also, culinary experts often advise mixing the spice with paprika.

Safflower

Dried safflower flowers are also a good substitute for saffron in cooking. Its taste is bitter-spicy, therefore slightly different from the original, but it is mainly used to give a pleasant flavor to the dish. At the moment, it is safflower that is one of the best natural dyes, giving shades from yellow to red-orange. So use it when cooking. If desired, it can be combined with a variety ofteas, because this way you can experiment with taste and color. For a complete replacement, the same amount of safflower should be used in the recipe, so if it says you need a teaspoon of saffron, then you should put a teaspoon of safflower.

Imperial Saffron

In Georgia, a spice called imperial saffron is especially popular. It is also an excellent option for replacing saffron when preparing Georgian dishes such as kharcho or satsivi. In addition, imperial saffron goes well with various meat or fish dishes.

The plant is usually harvested for consumption in mid-July, because at this time the aroma is most pronounced. Ultimately, when using spices, the dish gets a characteristic color. Of course, the analogue has one drawback - it does not have the smell of the original saffron.

Other analogues

There are a couple more similar seasonings, which in rare cases can become what you can replace saffron with, if desired. Among them, the Cardobenedict, otherwise known as the Blessed Cnicus, deserves special mention. Named after the monks of the Order of St. Benedict, this plant resembles the common thistle weed in appearance. However, its baskets have a yellowish tint, and if the petals are dried, then when ground, they have a floral-spicy aroma, very specific, since they often give off fruity notes.

Also at times inmarigold flowers can be used as a dye that can give the dish a similar color. If you grow your own flowers, simply dry the buds and then place them in a mortar or coffee grinder and then grind them to a powder.

Conclusion

In Russia, it is quite rare to find high-quality Indian spices, and natural saffron fibers are generally rare. But even if you manage to find them in the store, you will have to spend a real fortune on the purchase - now the price of this product is about $ 12 (800 rubles) for just one gram. So if you do not want to waste the family budget, then you will need to look for analogues. Fortunately, if desired, a number of other spices, such as turmeric, can be safely used as an analogue, which can give the dish the same pleasant golden-red hue. In addition, such substitutes are much cheaper and available to ordinary buyers. Of course, they do not have such a specific taste and aroma that saffron differs, but if you experiment, it will be simply impossible to notice that another product was used in the dish. So the question of how to replace saffron after reading the article should not be relevant.