Kesari Pisa

Pisa, or Pysa, is a thickened sweetened milk dessert that can be made with vermicelli noodles, as seen here, lentils and sometimes rice. Kesari, or Saffron, is the most expensive spices in the world — and for good reason. It’s is, literally, the three lone stamens from a crocus that only blooms once a year. The flowers, furthermore, are often hand-picked in the morning while the petals of the bloom are still closed to prevent damage to those precious threads of saffron. Even after it is harvested it will take around 75,000 saffron crocuses to make a single pound of the spice. The time-intensive growing and harvesting process, along with the crops low yield, makes for a final result that goes for $10 to $13 a gram. So eat this Pisa and feel expensive. 

Saffron has an easily recognizable color, anyone would recognize that rich yellow, but not an easily placeable flavor. Some liken its earthiness to “sweet hay” while others describe it with hints of bitterness. It truly is one of those flavors that you must taste to know.

Chemically, saffron’s color comes from its high concentration of carotenoid pigments, the most common being a-crocin, which makes up around 10% of saffron’s dry mass. A-crocin is an ester of the carotenoic acid crocetin. An ester is created when the hydrogen group from an acid is switched with an alkyl group or another organic compound, in this case water-soluble sugars. The water solubility of these organic compounds makes a-crocin perfect for coloring water-based dishes.

Flavor chemistry wise saffron is much simpler. The bitter flavor comes from the chemical picrocrocin which, triggered by the post-harvest heat, splits into the volatile oil safranal and glucose. One can think of safranal being responsible for smell, and picrocrocin for the taste.

Ok. Chemistry dump over. Here’s what we’ve all been waiting for, the recipe!

References:

Baraghani, Andy. "What is Saffron, the World's Most Legendary Spice?" healthyish. Last modified
February 5, 2018. Accessed May 30, 2019. https://www.bonappetit.com/story/what-is-saffron.
Saffron

Science of Cooking. "Science of Saffron." Science of Cooking. Accessed May 30, 2019.
https://www.scienceofcooking.com/science_of_saffron.htm.
Saffron

McGee, Harold. On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen. New York, NY: Scribner, 1984.
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