Safflower

30 g. Cartham, Saffron

Saffron – dried petals of the Carthamus tinctorius plant. It is used as a spice to color and flavor dishes and as an herb for making tea.

Saffron is an annual herbaceous, thorn-like plant with long sharp spines on the leaves, also known as cartham (Carthamus tinctorius). The flowers are bright yellow to orange. The spice is the dried flower petals. Saffron has a delicate floral aroma with earthy notes that does not dissipate when cooked. In cooking, it is used for coloring and flavoring and as a substitute for the much more expensive saffron, although the aroma is not as intense and a larger amount is needed to achieve a similar result. Saffron is used in dishes with rice, potatoes, chicken, soups, sauces, etc.
An aromatic and tasty tea can be prepared from saffron by steeping one teaspoon of the herb with 250 ml of hot water for about 15 minutes. Tea prepared in this way has a number of health benefits - it detoxifies the body, regulates blood sugar, reduces cholesterol levels and strengthens immunity. When the herb is steamed, essential oils are released, which have a beneficial effect on nervous conditions, stress and anxiety.

It is used as a spice to color and flavor dishes and as an herb for making tea.

Saffron (Carthamus tinctorius) is a highly branched herbaceous annual plant similar to thistle, usually with very long sharp spines on the leaves. Plants are 30 to 150 cm tall with globose flower heads (capitules) and usually bright yellow, orange or red flowers that bloom in July. Each branch usually has one to five flower heads containing 15 to 20 seeds each. Saffron has a strong taproot that enables it to survive in dry climates, but the plant is very sensitive to frost from emergence to maturity.

In the past, saffron was grown for its flowers, used to color and flavor foods and to produce red and yellow dyes