Use of saffron

High school (ages 12+)
Food & Cooking

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/use-of-saffron

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the botanical classification?Crocus sativus, a sterile, vegetatively propagated member of the Iridaceae family
2. What is the harvested component?The three stigmas from each saffron crocus flower
3. What makes saffron special for cooking?Saffron is made from the tiny red threads of the Crocus sativus flower. It gives food a bright golden color, a slightly bitter taste, and a hay‑like smell.
4. How do farmers pick saffron?Each flower has only three tiny threads that must be hand‑picked while the flower is open. The threads are then dried carefully, which takes a lot of work.

Vegetatively propagated: Reproduced from plant parts like stems or bulbs, rather than seeds, often resulting in sterile plants.
Stigmas: The receptive tip of a carpel, or of several fused carpels, in the gynoecium of a flower, which receives pollen.
Pharmacopeia: A book or other systematic collection of information concerning drugs, especially a description of their properties and instructions for their use.