Pennsylvania Saffron

October 7, 2006 12:49 AM

Where online can I buy saffron grown in Pennsylvania? I did a quick google, but I'm not coming up with anything other than articles and recipes and links to buy saffron grown everywhere else.
posted by digitalis to food & drink (4 comments total)

I did some googling without much success. There is a Lancaster section on Craigslist. I suggest Lancaster because it appears Pennsylvania saffron is grown chiefly by the Amish in that county. From what I read, it's produced in extremely small quantities now. Who knows if anybody even sells it anymore?

You could contact someone about finding a shop that sells online from there, or perhaps arrange for someone to buy and ship it to you if necessary... which I suspect, because the Amish frown pretty hard on outside cultural elements like the internet.

I have to ask, why Pennsylvania saffron?
posted by empyrean at 1:06 AM on October 7, 2006

I'm not in Philly, but while visiting there I went to the Reading Terminal Market, and they have a spice store called Spice Terminal. If there is such a thing as Pennsylvania Saffron, it might be there. Try this number to give them a call....[phone]
Monday - Saturday
8:30am - 5:30pm

And I also have to ask Why? Are you trying to do a localvore dinner?
posted by saffry at 10:23 AM on October 7, 2006

As far as purchase on the internet, M & J Greider farms produces saffron commercially in Pennsylvania. This site says you can get PA saffron at the PA General Store in the Reading Terminal Market; they also have an online store.

However, it seems (pdf article; page 4) that because the farm adjacent to M&J Greider's fields remained fallow last year, rodents migrated over and destroyed much of the saffron crop. So PA General didn't sell any last year and doesn't have it listed on the website for sale this year either.

However, the article is from Jan 2006. Saffron is generally harvested from late Sept through December. So while they may not have any in stock due to shortages in last years crop, perhaps this year will be better. Give the PA general a call & see if they know. Or you could contact M&J Greider at [phone] to see if there's another supplier of their saffron.

Also, although the article says M&J Greider is the only commercial producer of saffron, there should be plenty of non-commercial producers in the Lancaster County area. Which doesn't really help as you want to buy it on the internet; I doubt many people (esp. in that area) make internet stores for their garden crops.
posted by neda at 5:03 PM on October 7, 2006

Hey guys, thanks for the help!

I'm trying to find it because Cook's Illustrated did a taste test of saffron grown in different places, and they liked the PA saffron best. I want to try it for several reasons, the number one reason is that I never knew saffron was grown in the states and it sounds interesting.
posted by digitalis at 8:31 PM on October 8, 2006