SAFFRON

SAFFRON在中文里的意思是藏红花。是一种香料。橘黄色。摘自介绍SAFFRON的文献如下：

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. 据说每朵花只能采撷她的三根花芯，然后晒干。要75000朵花的花芯才能晒出1磅的成品。不过每次只用一点点（几根或十几根）就可以了。 邻居送我一小盒SAFFRON，一克重，大约有一，二百根晒干的花芯。说是从印度店里才买得到，但不是在货架上，要向店员索要。倒也不贵，1克的一小盒才要不到3加元。 邻居还教我用SAFFRON做西班牙风味的海鲜饭。先用约二，三十根的SAFFRON泡二碗水，最好泡12小时。泡好的水呈橘黄色。若干洋葱，红绿甜椒切片，加几片西红柿爆炒，淘米（最好是BROWN RICE）下锅，倒上SAFFRON和泡好的水，加盖小火焖至半熟，放入鲜虾，青口，鱿鱼或自己喜欢的料，搅拌，加调味料如鸡精，胡椒粉，盐若干。继续焖至饭熟即可。或者不用那么复杂，用SAFFRON的泡水煮饭即可，煮出来的饭橙黄的色泽，特殊的味道，别有一番风味。 不过我还是在纸上谈兵阶段，还没有实战过，这个周末要试一试。