HOW TO VERIFY THE AUTHENTICATION OF THE SAFFRON?
The saffron is an expensive spice when it comes to the costs of a product. Though, there is a high probability of being cheated while purchasing the saffron. The merchants, those deals in the saffron, might make some additional ingredients to the pure saffron to make profits out of this.
There are no such machines that can identify the purity of the saffron. While there is a gap to fill in the supply and demand, the people are eager to utilize the opportunity to earn significant gains. It is worth putting effort into getting the knowledge about the purity of saffron so you can avoid spending your hard-earned money on something that could be classified as fake.
To tackle the problem, we have summarized how to make sure about the authentication of saffron for sale. Let's have a look in brief.
- Use water
Many things are soluble in water, so does the color. If saffron is dyed with red color, the color will be released into the water once a saffron thread is poured into it. Tough, the pure saffron also releases some color to the water, but it will take some time while fake saffron makes water red immediately. The color of authentic saffron would be golden –yellowish, rather than the red.
Once the test is done and thread takes out of the water, authentic saffron retains most of its original color and does not get broken while the fake thread loses a bit of color and gets ripped at some places.
- Identify with the smell and taste
The red saffron has its unique taste. In case, it is tasted directly and offers a sweet flavor on your tongue. The saffron is a fake. Besides, the genuine thread offers a bitter taste.
On the other hand, the saffron can test by just smelling it directly. In case a thread does not smell, this is a sign of fake saffron, while authentic saffron has a sweet smell while it is brought near the nose.
- By rubbing the fingers
It is quite a simple method of verifying the purity of saffron. If the saffron threads are rubbed with the fingers, and they start to release any kind of oil or any other substance, it is sure that saffron is not authentic. It might color your fingers with red or orange color.
The marketing companies generally focus on the branding of the saffron while ignoring the quality of the saffron. However, this type of strategy cannot survive long in the market. Many companies envisage branding via customer trust. This approach is quite necessary to eliminate fraudulent practices and promote the authenticity of saffron.
Conclusion
In these circumstances, the cheap saffron often creates doubts in the mind while the best saffron justifies its higher price in the spice market. Thus, being skeptical is normal while buying such an expensive spice.