I didn't find an answer answer by searching, so ----- are spices worth bringing home, particularly saffron, and how are the prices? I have read that they aren't much different from those in the US -- EXPENSISVE.

Thanks.

Sandra

Saffron is not grown in Thailand as far as I know. Spain is really the place to buy saffron.

I do often bring home whole spices (cardamom and nutmegs, for instance) from Malaysia (where they are grown). Remember that ground spices have a limited shelf life, maybe 6 months.

No idea of the situation in Thailand, but in Bali we bought up on fresh vanilla beans in village markets that were going for a fraction of the price they sell for in Australia.

I meant to mention that we also saw packets of a spice labelled as saffron - cheap, but not true saffron.

Ditto - great spices in Bali (vanilla, nutmeg etc.) but not much worth buying in Bangkok. I have never seen saffron for sale. As far as I know it is not commonly used in SE Asian cooking - more common in the middle east.

Real saffron comes from a crocus flower grown only in Spain.

Thanks to all. Guess I'll spend my "spice buying time" spending $$$$ somewhere else. I'm sure I can find something.

Sandra

Spices can be frozen to add more shelf life time to them. They just need to be wrapped very well. Happy Travels!

Same in BKK, bought some very cheap saffron but ain't the real stuff. Hey Neil, I was in a market in Bali too and saw the vanilla beans, tempted but didn't know what to do with them.

Well, a couple who own our favorite restaurant here in our small town ask for spices from Thailand, including saffron. DS has brought a couple of kilos for them, from Chiang Mai. Good thing the customs didn't open his bag! Wonder what they would have thought about a kilo... of what?.... do not know if they would recognize it as a spice or not. In any case, they use it for their Thai cooking.

Carol

I buy vanilla beans whenever I can find them. Of course, the best place was Tahiti! I also found them in the market in Mataram, Lombok.

In many places in the world you can buy a ground spice that is very yellow and it is often labeled as saffron. However, it consists mostly of tumeric. I would expect any ground "saffron" in Thailand to actaully be tumeric. In addition to Spain, the one other place I know of that grows saffron (a slightly different species of crocus, I believe) is Turkey.

I bought spices from Rajasthan on my last visit. There you can find some best spices in very good prices.
Even I ordered little more after getting back to home.
One can contact at this mail to order- [email protected]
this guy is a small spice shop owner in clock tower market in Jodhpur.
thanks

I spent time in Turkey in the Peace Corps. The Turkish saffron is not high quality but they sell saffron from Iran in the markets which is excellent and very cheap.

Thanks for the reminder - the saffron I bought in the spice market in Istanbul was from Iran.

Real safran looks like a tiny thread (actually stamens). If grounded into powders, it'seither a poor quality one or far more likely turmeric.

Also real safran is sold by grams in ampule or tiny glass case, never by 100gs or by kilograms.

London, I agree that anything ground is not saffron. In Spain, I purchased bottles of saffron threads, the smaller bottles were 5 grams, the larger ones were 15 or 20 grams. Usually, outside of Spain, you'll find the tiny ampules of saffron. Years ago, I could often get saffron for about US$1 per gram... but that was the old days when the dollar was strong.

"I'm just wild about Saffron..."

Oh, no, Andy! That song will be playing in my head all day!

since when did a cambridgeite turn from pink to yellow....

Cantabridgean is the correct term for one so fortunate to inhabit the Middle Kingdom.