A big giant bowl of Feldsalat for dinner last night, in honor of my mother, who is visiting, and loves the stuff even more than I do, if such a thing is possible. I am especially pleased because, in my experience, the stuff doesn't grow when I want it to and does grow when I don't want it to.

GALLONS of jam?

G'Day!
- Yup. Gallons. Made over a dozen gallons of jam last year, only a couple left.
-v.

I always thought all parts of regular spring-blooming crocus were poisonous. Have I been missing out on something?

A dozen gallons of jam.
Twelve gallons of jam.
Forty-eight quarts of jam.
Ninety-six pints of jam.

Please pass the toothpaste.

:-)
Alfie

Did some research. You're playing with fire if you're using spring crocus as a saffron substitute. Please read the following, & particularly note the warning:

"Saffron (Crocus sativus) is also known as Parrot's Corn or Autumn Crocus. It is the only member of the crocus family which has edible parts (but see Warning below) - all other crocuses are poisonous. The bright orange stigmas are removed in autumn, just as the flower opens. The flowering period may last only 15 days. Each blossom yields only 3 stigmas. It takes as many as 4000 flowers to produce 30g (1 oz), making it the most expensive herb in the world. Store your precious saffron away from heat and light.
In cooking with saffron, use only a pinch at a time and follow recipe directions exactly, as a little is good, but a lot can be dreadful. Use to colour and flavour rice dishes, cakes and biscuits, sauces and soups, fish dishes, scrambled eggs and mayonnaise. Saffron has a sweetish, aromatic odour and slightly pungent flavour. Commonly used in Asian and Middle Eastern cookery. Crush the threads when needed and infuse in hot liquid before using for best results.

Medicinal Uses: Dried stigmas are used as a preventative for heart disease, to stimulate menstruation, relieve abdominal pain, and to prevent the build-up of cholesterol. Used, in small doses only, for coughs, whooping cough, stomach gas, gastrointestinal colic and insomnia Also useful for fevers, melancholia, enlargement of the liver, asthma, anaemia, chlorosis and seminal debility It is considered to be an appetite stimulant.

Warning: Be sure to identify the plant correctly before using. Other Crocuses are poisonous. Avoid when pregnant. Large doses are narcotic, and may act on the central nervous system and damage the kidneys. 10-12g is a fatal dose for human beings.

You can use Calendula officinalis petals as a substitute for saffron. You won't get the same distinctive flavour, but you'll get the nice yellow colour."

G'Day!
Good point on the crocus. my readings said the spring crocus were used medicinally, and were OK to use in SMALL amounts but were "not recommended" in larger. Well, if your sources are saying poisenous, i'd say, better to err on the side of caution; that's a recipe i won't be making again! (But it was good!)

- Just to confuse the matter, there seem to be two very different plants called autumn crocus. Crocus sativa is the "true saffron crocus," but folk may also have another plant labeled as autumn crocus; colchium looks similar enough to share the name but is actually in the iris family. Its corms are the source of colchinine, which is used to stimulate spontanious chromosomal alterations and thus produce new varieties of plant. Quite different, eh?

- Alphie, you're right about the toothbrush - especially as i haven't masterd the low-sugar jam making tequnique yet. The "good" side (?) was that we didn't actually keep all that jam for ourselves; half got traded for bottle's of mum's green tomato mustard pickles, tomolives, zucchini relich, chutney, etc., and much of the remander went out as holiday gifts. Hence our having only a couple gallons left. (Just checked. A half gallon of that dissapeared. Sure hope SOMEbody has been sharing that at work!)

- Happy gardening,
-vlad

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