Kashmiri Mongra Saffron (Kesar)

Kashmiri Mongra saffron from Pampore, sold by weight in 5 g, 10 g and 25 g tins. Mongra is the stigma alone — the thread cut above the pale style, so it is deep crimson from end to end — and it is the only grade we sell under that name.

What you are buying is that cut. A thread that is red for its whole length has had the yellow style removed by hand, which is slow work, and that is most of what separates one saffron price from another. Ours is hand-picked on the karewa terraces around Pampore in the three weeks either side of the first frost, separated the same morning, and shade-dried.

Each tin is sealed and carries its lot reference. The lot card and its laboratory report ship with the order, so the grade can be checked against numbers rather than adjectives.

Saffron is among the most adulterated spices in the world: safflower, dyed maize silk and gelatine threads all pass at a glance. We would rather hand you the paperwork than the story.

For anyone who has been paying Mongra prices and is not sure they were getting Mongra.