An Oregon farm grows one of the most expensive spices in the world

Saffron is a popular cooking spice. It is also used a lot in medicine. But saffron is also very expensive. It can cost $5,000 per pound. That is more expensive than gold. Why? Because it is difficult to harvest.

The spice comes from a dried part of the plant’s flower. It can take 75,000 flowers to make one pound of spice. And growers must harvest the flowers by hand, not machine.

Most saffron comes from Iran. But now Tanya Golden grows it in Oregon. Her farm is called Golden Tradition Saffron. It is near North Plains. She started in 2018. She received a grant from the Native American Youth Association Microenterprise Program. It helps small businesses. She also received grants from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. She combined the grants with a loan to start her business.

She has about 400,000 plants in two greenhouses, so she can’t do the work alone. She uses her aunt’s truck. And she has many friends who help her with the harvest.

Golden wants her business to make money, but that’s not all. “My business vision isn’t just about saffron and finding a way to become financially stable,” she said. “It’s about finding a way for my community to have that same stability. Because if we’re all stable, we will be stronger and we will last.”

^{-This story was first published in ESOL News Oregon November 5, 2021.}