As the saffron of England, which Platina reckneth among spices, is the
most excellent of all other: for it giueth place neither to that of
Cilicia, whereof Solinus speaketh, neither to anie that commeth from
Cilicia, where it groweth vpon the mount Taurus, Tmolus, Italie,
Ætolia, Sicilia or Licia, in swéetnesse, tincture, and continuance; so
of that which is to be had amongst vs, the same that grows about
Saffron Walden, somtime called Waldenburg, in the edge of Essex, first
of all planted there in the time of Edward the third, and that of
Glocester shire and those westerlie parts, which some thinke to be
better than that of Walden, surmounteth all the rest, and therefore
beareth worthilie the higher price, by six pence or twelue pence most
commonlie in the pound. The root of the herbe that beareth this
commoditie is round, much like vnto an indifferent chestnut, & yet it
is not cloued as the lillie, nor flaked as the scallion, but hath a
sad substance "Inter bulbosa," as Orchis, hyacinthus orientalis, and
Statyrion. The colour of the rind is not much differing from the
innermost shell of a chestnut, although it be not altogither so
brickle as is the pill of an onion. So long as the leafe flourisheth
the root is litle & small; but when the grasse is withered, the head
increaseth and multiplieth, the fillets also or small roots die, so
that when the time dooth come to take them vp, they haue no roots at
all, but so continue vntill September that they doo grow againe: and
before the chiue be grounded the smallest heads are also most
esteemed; but whether they be great or small, if sheepe or neat may
come to them on the heape, as they lie in the field, they will deuoure
them as if they were haie or stuble, some also will wroot for them in
verie eager maner. The leafe or rather the blade thereof is long and
narrow as grasse, which come vp alwaies in October after the floures
be gathered and gone, pointed on a little tuft much like vnto our
siues. Sometimes our cattell will féed vpon the same; neuerthelesse,
if it be bitten whilest it is gréene, the head dieth, and therefore
our crokers are carefull to kéepe it from such annoiance vntill it
begin to wither, and then also will the cattell soonest tast thereof:
for vntill that time the iuice thereof is bitter. In euerie floure we
find commonlie thrée chiues, and three yellowes, and double the number
of leaues. Of twisted floures I speake not; yet is it found, that two
floures grow togither, which bring foorth fiue chiues, so that alwaies
there is an od chiue and od yellow, though thrée or foure floures
should come out of one root. The whole herbe is named in Gréeke
_Crocos_, but of some (as Dioscorides saith) _Castor_, _Cynomorphos_,
or Hercules blood: yet in the Arabian spéech, (from whence we borow
[Sidenote: Occasion of the name.]
the name which we giue thervnto) I find that it is called _Zahafaran_,
as Rembert dooth beare witnesse. The cause wherefore it was called
Crocus was this (as the poets feigne) speciallie those from whome
Galen hath borowed the historie, which he noteth in his ninth booke
"De medicamentis secundum loca," where he writeth after this maner
(although I take Crocus to be the first that vsed this comoditie.) A
certeine yong gentleman called Crocus went to plaie at coits in the
field with Mercurie, and being héedlesse of himselfe, Mercuries coit
happened by mishap to hit him on the head, whereby he receiued a wound
that yer long killed him altogither, to the great discomfort of his
freends. Finallie, in the place where he bled, saffron was after found
to grow, wherevpon the people seeing the colour of the chiue as it
stood (although I doubt not but it grew there long before) adiudged it
to come of the blood of Crocus, and therefore they gaue it his name.
And thus farre Rembert, who with Galen, &c: differ verie much from
Ouids Metamorphos. 4. who writeth also thereof. Indéed the chiue,
while it remaineth whole & vnbrused, resembleth a darke red, but being
broken and conuerted into vse, it yéeldeth a yellow tincture. But what
haue we to doo with fables?
The heads of saffron are raised in Iulie, either with plough, raising,
or tined hooke; and being scowred from their rosse or filth, and
seuered from such heads as are ingendred of them, since the last
setting, they are interred againe in Iulie and August by ranks or
rowes, and being couered with moulds, they rest in the earth, where
they cast forth litle fillets and small roots like vnto a scallion,
vntill September, in the beginning of which moneth the ground is
[Sidenote: Paring.]
pared, and all wéeds and grasse that groweth vpon the same remooued,
to the intent that nothing may annoie the floure when as his time
dooth come to rise.
[Sidenote: Gathering.]
These things being thus ordered in the latter end of the aforesaid
moneth of September, the floure beginneth to appeere of a whitish
blew, fesse or skie colour, and in the end shewing it selfe in the
[Sidenote: Sée _Rembert_.]
owne kind, it resembleth almost the Leucotion of Theophrast, sauing
that it is longer, and hath in the middest thereof thrée chiues verie
red and pleasant to behold. These floures are gathered in the morning
before the rising of the sunne, which otherwise would cause them to
welke or flitter. And the chiues being picked from the floures, these
are throwne into the doonghill; the other dried vpon little kelles
couered with streined canuasses vpon a soft fire: wherby, and by the
weight that is laied vpon them, they are dried and pressed into cakes,
and then bagged vp for the benefit of their owners. In good yeeres we
gather foure score or an hundred pounds of wet saffron of an acre,
which being dried dooth yeeld twentie pounds of drie and more.
Whereby, and sith the price of saffron is commonlie about twentie
shillings in monie, or not so little, it is easie to sée what benefit
is reaped by an acre of this commoditie, towards the charges of the
setter, which indeed are great, but yet not so much, as he shall be
thereby a looser, if he be anie thing diligent. For admit that the
triple tillage of an acre dooth cost 13 shillings foure pence before
the saffron be set, the clodding sixtéene pence, the taking of euerie
load of stones from the same foure pence, the raising of euerie
quarter of heads six pence, and so much for clensing of them, besides
the rent of ten shillings for euerie acre, thirtie load of doong which
is woorth six pence the load to be laid on the first yéere, for the
setting three and twentie shillings and foure pence, for the paring
fiue shillings, six pence for the picking of a pound wet, &c: yea
though he hire it readie set, and paie ten pounds for the same, yet
shall he susteine no damage, if warme weather and open season doo
happen at the gathering. This also is to be noted, that euerie acre
asketh twentie quarters of heads, placed in ranks two inches one from
an other in long beds, which conteine eight or ten foot in breadth.
And after thrée yeeres that ground will serue well, and without
compest for barleie by the space of eightéene or twentie yéeres
togither, as experience dooth confirme. The heads also of euerie acre
at the raising will store an acre and an halfe of new ground, which is
a great aduantage, and it will floure eight or ten daies togither. But
the best saffron is gathered at the first; at which time foure pounds
of wet saffron will go verie neere to make one of drie; but in the
middest fiue pounds of the one will make but one of the other, because
the chiue waxeth smaller, as six at the last will doo no more but
yéeld one of the dried, by reason of the chiue which is now verie
leane and hungrie. After twentie yeeres also the same ground may be
set with saffron againe. And in lieu of a conclusion, take this for a
perpetuall rule, that heads comming out of a good ground will prosper
best in a lighter soile; and contrariwise: which is one note that our
crokers doo carefullie obserue.
[Sidenote: Raising.]
The heads are raised euerie third yeare about vs, to wit, after
Midsummer, when the rosse commeth drie from the heads; and commonlie
in the first yéere after they be set they yéeld verie little increase:
yet that which then commeth is counted the finest and greatest chiue,
& best for medicine, and called saffron Du hort. The next crop is much
greater; but the third exceedeth, and then they raise againe about
Walden and in Cambridge shire. In this period of time also the heads
are said to child, that is, to yéeld out of some parts of them diuerse
other headlets, whereby it hath béene séene, that some one head hath
béene increased (though with his owne detriment) to three, or foure,
or fiue, or six, which augmentation is the onlie cause wherby they are
sold so good cheape. For to my remembrance I haue not knowne foure
bushels or a coome of them to be valued much aboue two shillings eight
pence, except in some od yéeres that they arise to eight or ten
shillings the quarter, and that is when ouer great store of winters
water hath rotted the most of them as they stood within the ground, or
heat in summer parched and burnt them vp.
In Norffolke and Suffolke they raise but once in seuen yéeres: but as
their saffron is not so fine as that of Cambridgeshire and about
Walden, so it will not cake, ting, nor hold colour withall, wherein
lieth a great part of the value of this stuffe. Some craftie iackes
vse to mix it with scraped brazell or with the floure of Sonchus,
which commeth somewhat neere indeed to the hue of our good saffron (if
it be late gathered) but it is soone bewraied both by the depth of the
colour and hardnesse. Such also was the plentie of saffron about
twentie yeeres passed, that some of the townesmen of Walden gaue the
one halfe of the floures for picking of the other, and sent them ten
or twelue miles abroad into the countrie, whilest the rest, not
thankfull for the abundance of Gods blessing bestowed vpon them (as
wishing rather more scarsitie thereof because of the kéeping vp of the
price) in most contemptuous maner murmured against him, saieng that he
did shite saffron therewith to choake the market. But as they shewed
themselues no lesse than ingrat infidels in this behalfe, so the Lord
considered their vnthankfulnesse, & gaue them euer since such
scarsitie, as the greatest murmurers haue now the least store; and
most of them are either worne out of occupieng, or remaine scarse able
to mainteine their grounds without the helpe of other men. Certes it
hath generallie decaied about Saffron Walden since the said time,
vntill now of late within these two yeares, that men began againe to
plant and renew the same, because of the great commoditie. But to
procéed. When the heads be raised and taken vp, they will remaine
sixteene or twentie daies out of the earth or more: yea peraduenture a
full moneth. Howbeit they are commonlie in the earth againe by saint
Iames tide, or verie shortlie after. For as if they be taken vp before
Midsummer, or beginning of Iulie, the heads will shrinke like a rosted
warden: so after August they will wax drie, become vnfruitfull, and
decaie. And I know it by experience, in that I haue carried some of
them to London with me; and notwithstanding that they haue remained
there vnset by the space of fortie dais and more: yet some of them
haue brought foorth two or thrée floures a peece, and some floures
thrée or fiue chiues, to the greeat admiration of such as haue
gathered the same, and not béene acquainted with their nature and
countrie where they grew. The crokers or saffron men doo vse an
obseruation a litle before the comming vp of the floure, and sometime
in the taking vp at Midsummer tide, by opening of the heads to iudge
of plentie and scarsitie of this commoditie to come. For if they sée
as it were manie small hairie veines of saffron to be in the middest
of the bulbe, they pronounce a fruitfull yeare. And to saie truth, at
the cleauing of ech head, a man shall discerne the saffron by the
colour, and sée where abouts the chiue will issue out of the root.
Warme darke nights, swéet dews, fat grounds (chéeflie the chalkie) and
mistie mornings are verie good for saffron; but frost and cold doo
kill and keepe backe the floure, or else shrinke vp the chiue. And
thus much haue I thought good to speake of English saffron, which is
hot in the second and drie in the first degrée, and most plentifull as
our crokers hold, in that yéere wherein ewes twin most. But as I can
make no warrantize hereof, so I am otherwise sure, that there is no
more deceit vsed in anie trade than in saffron. For in the making they
will grease the papers on the kell with a little candle grease, to
make the woorst saffron haue so good a colour as the best: afterwards
also they will sprinkle butter thereon to make the weight better. But
both these are bewraied, either by a quantitie thereof holden ouer the
fire in a siluer spoone, or by the softnesse thereof betwéene the fore
finger and the thumbe; or thirdlie, by the colour thereof in age: for
if you laie it by farre worse saffron of other countries, the colour
will bewraie the forgerie by the swartnesse of the chiue, which
otherwise would excell it, and therevnto being sound, remaine crispe,
brickle, and drie: and finallie, if it be holden néere the face, will
strike a certeine biting heat vpon the skin and eies, whereby it is
adiudged good and merchant ware indéed among the skilfull crokers.
Now if it please you to heare of anie of the vertues thereof, I will
note these insuing at the request of one, who required me to touch a
few of them with whatsoeuer breuitie I listed. Therefore our saffron
(beside the manifold vse that it hath in the kitchin and pastrie, also
in our cakes at bridals, and thanksgiuings of women) is verie
profitably mingled with those medicins which we take for the diseases
of the breast, of the lungs, of the liuer, and of the bladder: it is
good also for the stomach if you take it in meat, for it comforteth
the same and maketh good digestion: being sodden also in wine, it not
onelie kéepeth a man from droonkennesse, but incorageth also vnto
procreation of issue. If you drinke it in sweet wine, it inlargeth the
breath, and is good for those that are troubled with the tisike and
shortnesse of the wind: mingled with the milke of a woman, and laied
vpon the eies, it staieth such humors as descend into the same, and
taketh awaie the red wheales and pearles that oft grow about them: it
killeth moths if it be sowed in paper bags verie thin, and laid vp in
presses amongst tapistrie or apparell: also it is verie profitablie
laid vnto all inflammations, painefull aposthumes, and the shingles;
and dooth no small ease vnto deafnes, if it be mingled with such
medicins as are beneficiall vnto the eares: it is of great vse also in
ripening of botches and all swellings procéeding of raw humors. Or if
it shall please you to drinke the root thereof with maluesie, it will
maruellouslie prouoke vrine, dissolue and expell grauell, and yéeld no
small ease to them that make their water by dropmeales. Finallie,
thrée drams thereof taken at once, which is about the weight of one
shilling nine pence halfepenie, is deadlie poison; as Dioscorides
dooth affirme: and droonke in wine (saith Platina) lib. 3. cap. 13.
"De honesta voluptate," dooth hast on droonkennesse, which is verie
true. And I haue knowne some, that by eating onelie of bread more than
of custome streined with saffron, haue become like droonken men, & yet
otherwise well known to be but competent drinkers. For further
confirmation of this also, if a man doo but open and ransake a bag of
one hundred or two hundred weight, as merchants doo when they buie it
of the crokers, it will strike such an aire into their heads which
deale withall, that for a time they shall be giddie and sicke (I meane
for two or three houres space) their noses and eies in like sort will
yéeld such plentie of rheumatike water, that they shall be the better
for it long after, especiallie their eiesight, which is woonderfullie
clarified by this meanes: howbeit some merchants not liking of this
physike, muffle themselues as women doo when they ride, and put on
spectacles set in leather, which dooth in some measure (but not for
altogither) put by the force thereof. There groweth some saffron in
manie places of Almaine, and also about Vienna in Austria, which later
is taken for the best that springeth in those quarters. In steed of
this some doo vse the Carthamus, called amongst vs bastard saffron,
but neither is this of anie value, nor the other in any wise
comparable vnto ours. Whereof let this suffice as of a commoditie
brought into this Iland in the time of Edward 3. and not commonlie
planted till Richard 2. did reigne. It would grow verie well (as I
take it) about the Chiltern hils, & in all the vale of the White
horsse so well as in Walden and Cambridgeshire, if they were carefull
of it. I heare of some also to be cherished alreadie in
Glocestershire, and certeine other places westward. But of the
finenesse and tincture of the chiue, I heare not as yet of anie
triall. Would to God that my countriemen had beene heretofore (or were
now) more carefull of this commoditie! then would it no doubt haue
prooued more beneficiall to our Iland than our cloth or wooll. But
alas! so idle are we, and heretofore so much giuen to ease, by reason
of the smalnesse of our rents, that few men regard to search out which
are their best commodities. But if landlords hold on to raise the
rents of their farms as they begin, they will inforce their tenants to
looke better vnto their gains, and scratch out their rent from vnder
euerie clod that may be turned aside. The greatest mart for saffron is
at Aquila in Abruzo, where they haue an especiall weight for the same
of ten pounds lesse in the hundred than that of Florens and Luke: but
how it agréeth with ours it shall appéere hereafter.