SAFFRON

SAFFRON在中文裏的意思是藏紅花。是一種香料。橘黃色。摘自介紹SAFFRON的文獻如下：

The most precious and most expensive spice in the world: Saffron. The Saffron filaments, or threads, are actually the dried stigmas of the saffron flower, "Crocus Sativus Linneaus". Each flower contains only three stigmas. These threads must be picked from each flower by hand, and more than 75,000 of these flowers are needed to produce just one pound of Saffron filaments, making it the world?s most precious spice. But, because of saffron's strong coloring power and intense flavor, it can be used sparingly. Saffron is used both for its bright orange-yellow color and for its strong, intense flavor and aroma. 據說每朵花隻能采擷她的三根花芯，然後曬幹。要75000朵花的花芯才能曬出1磅的成品。不過每次隻用一點點（幾根或十幾根）就可以了。 鄰居送我一小盒SAFFRON，一克重，大約有一，二百根曬幹的花芯。說是從印度店裏才買得到，但不是在貨架上，要向店員索要。倒也不貴，1克的一小盒才要不到3加元。 鄰居還教我用SAFFRON做西班牙風味的海鮮飯。先用約二，三十根的SAFFRON泡二碗水，最好泡12小時。泡好的水呈橘黃色。若幹洋蔥，紅綠甜椒切片，加幾片西紅柿爆炒，淘米（最好是BROWN RICE）下鍋，倒上SAFFRON和泡好的水，加蓋小火燜至半熟，放入鮮蝦，青口，魷魚或自己喜歡的料，攪拌，加調味料如雞精，胡椒粉，鹽若幹。繼續燜至飯熟即可。或者不用那麽複雜，用SAFFRON的泡水煮飯即可，煮出來的飯橙黃的色澤，特殊的味道，別有一番風味。 不過我還是在紙上談兵階段，還沒有實戰過，這個周末要試一試。