Annex White book.pdf

SAFFRON TREATMENTIN SPAIN, GREECE AND ITALYFollowing pages contain a detaileddescription of the flower treatment process,beginning from harvesting the flowerin the field until the flower is transformedinto the saffron spice. The procedurediffers in each of the three regions:La Mancha (Spain), Western Macedonia(Greece) and Sardinia (Italy).A2.1 FLOWER TRANSPORTATIONAND CONSERVATIONIn order to conserve flowers underbest conditions for further treatment,flowers are transported from the fieldinto special container. In Western Macedonia,cultivators use special baskets,made from various materials. In Castile-LaMancha, the baskets are madefrom osier or rush, bearing variousheights and diameters. The flowers areplaced very carefully into the baskets.The baskets are not overloaded in orderto prevent damaging the flowers.In Sardinia, the baskets are made fromthe branches of olive trees togetherwith young reeds. In case of wind duringharvesting, baskets with narrowopenings are used in order to preventthe lighter flowers to be blown away.After harvesting, the flowers aretransported as fast as possible, inwooden or plastic containers (Sardinia)or in the initial harvest baskets (WesternMacedonia and Castile-La Mancha)to the room where treatment begins. IfSaffron flowers in atypical Sardinian basket(Corongiu)123