Saffron (Crocus sativus): current state of scientific research

Saffron describes both the Crocus sativus plant and the spice resulting from its dried stigmas. Known as 'red gold', it is the most expensive spice in the world. It is valued in refined culinary art, used in traditional medicine and as a dye in textile and woodwork. Saffron's ability significantly to grow in low quality soil makes it a culture of choice able to strongly contribute to the income of local people. Currently, saffron is used as an alternative crop for sustainable agriculture. A lot of scientific work has focused on the morphological and physiological traits of saffron. The phenotypic variability present in saffron may have a support at the genetic level and furthermore opens up selection prospects. The in vitro cultivation of saffron can allow the rapid multiplication of healthy selected material. At the molecular level, markers and sequencing are a tool of choice for finding variability in saffron cultivars and defining their molecular identity. The chemistry of saffron is mainly based on crocin, picrocrocin and safranal metabolites. It uses techniques such as UV-Vis, HPLC and GC and attempts to explain the content of saffron secondary metabolites in relation to the different cultivars and site-related factors, and to establish a chemical identity able to support the hallmarks of quality and to limit the falsification of this spice. We will highlight the most significant scientific results in saffron valorization and will present some results of work conducted on saffron in our laboratory.