Production Practices and Quality Assessment of Food Crops. Vol. 1

oriental-type perfumes (Sampathu et al., 1984). Crocetin, a saffron pigment, is
used as a label in hybridisation probes in the detection of DNA molecules (Narayanan
et al., 1996).
2. SAFFRON CHEMISTRY IN RELATION TO QUALITY
The chemical composition of dried saffron stigmas has been extensively studied
since the end of 19th century.
2.1. Proximate composition
Proximate composition of dried stigmas of saffron is given in Table 1. Sampathu
et al. (1984) referred to the vitamin content of different samples of saffron focusing
on riboflavin (3.4–5.6 µg/g) and thiamine (0.3–0.4 µg/g). The % composition of
saffron ash according to various reports (Sampathu et al., 1984; Tarantilis et al.,
1990; Alonso et al., 1998c) is: 34.46% K 2O – 8.56% Na 2O – 10.01% P 2O 5 – 7.12%
SO 3 – 2.89% Cl. Magnesium (~565 mg/100 g), calcium (~150 mg/100 g), iron (25.4–
76.5 mg/100 g), manganese (0.24–5.7 mg/100 g), copper (1.5–27.7 mg/100 g) and
zinc (0.5–15.2 mg/100 g) are also reported.
However, the quality and consequently the commercial value of saffron is based
on the estimation of colouring power, the bitter taste and the aroma, therefore, the
responsible compounds are detailed below.
2.2. Pigments
Saffron Quality 215
A large number of C 20 carotenoid pigments, have been isolated from the dried stigmas
of saffron. Pfander and Schurtenberger (1982) have examined the possible biosynthetic
pathways of saffron carotenoids and suggested their dependence on age and
origin of the product. The main pigments are the glycosidic forms of crocetin
Table 1. Proximate composition of saffron (after Sampathu et al., 1984;
Ríos et al., 1996).
Constituent Percentage
Water 10–12
Mineral matter 05–7
Fat 05–8
Protein 12–13
Reducing sugars 20
Free sugars Trace
Starch 06–7
Pentosans 06–7
Gums and Dextrins 09–10
Crude fibre 04–5
Crocin pigment 08–9
Essential oil 00.3