Azafrán de la Mancha

Appearance & taste

Azafrán de la Mancha is sold as threads, obtained by toasting the stigmas of the saffron flower. The threads are bright red; the specification describes their aroma as clean, intense and pungent, with hints of toasted notes. An infusion is bright, clear and yellow with slightly orange tones and tastes of toasted notes, slightly bitter and slightly pungent.

Limits apply to purity: at most 0.5 % other parts of the flower such as petals, styles or stamens and at most 0.1 % foreign matter. The stigma must be at least twice as long as the attached style. Minimum values are also set for colouring strength (over 200), flavouring strength (over 20) and bitterness (over 70), as well as a moisture content under 11 %; artificial colourings must not be detectable.

The pack bears the words “Denominación de Origen Protegida Azafrán de La Mancha”, the harvest year, a best-before date of three years and a control label with a code made up of the production year and the pack number.

Production

Cultivation, harvesting and drying of the saffron take place in the defined area. The threads are obtained by toasting the stigmas of the flower of Crocus sativus. Other parts of the flower – petals, detached styles, stamens, pollen and ovaries – count as foreign matter and may only be present in very small proportions.

The names of the districts and municipalities of the area may not be used to label saffron that does not meet the requirements. This is to prevent consumers from confusing place names from La Mancha with the protected name.

Origin & history

The area stretches from the centre of Castilla-La Mancha to the south-east of Spain; its core is the districts of La Mancha in the provinces of Toledo, Ciudad Real, Cuenca and Albacete.

Saffron came to Spain during Arab rule. It was the most important spice of the Arab economy, used as a colouring and seasoning for most dishes. For La Mancha it is documented in a work by J. A. López de la Osa (1897), which also cites a legal inventory from 1720. According to the specification, the finest saffron in Spain came from La Mancha in the first third of the 19th century. Cultivation is well documented in places such as Pedro Muñoz, Campo de Criptana, Manzanares, Madridejos, Villacañas and Montilla del Palancar. Saffron growing has produced its own vocabulary and appears in songs, sayings and a regional dance dedicated to it; it is also the background of an operetta first performed in Madrid in 1930. It is celebrated, for example, at the “Fiesta de la Rosa del Azafrán” in Consuegra and with saffron-peeling competitions in La Solana; in some villages newly-weds are still given a few saffron threads as a symbol of prosperity.