The Golden Sunshine of Saffron 3: from India to Paris and in your Plate

~reproduced* from "Le Monde d'Hermès: Spring-Summer 2008", compiled by guest writer AlbertCan

A Thread of Myth
The saffron road, with its trail of red gold, runs from India all the way to Faubourg Saint-Honoré. When Alexander the Great reached Kashmir, he pitched his camp on a grassy plain. In the morning, he beheld his army afloat upon an ocean of mauve flowers that had opened overnight and reached all the way to his tent and under the hooves of his horses. Suspecting some sorcery, he turned back, avoiding battle. So says the legend. In fact, the Supreme Commander of the Superstitious had simply spend the night in a field of crosues, in a crop of wild saffron that may well have been used to make Mongra and Lacha, the finest qualities of this spice anywhere in the world. Just a pinch--no more, for saffron is potent and costly--infuses a flavour of far horizons: Persia, the Atlas, Crete, the monks of Tibet, fabrics snapping in the wind of Calcutta and feasts fit for a king. Added to rice, immersed in stocks and sauces or soaked in milk, it has a complex taste--bitter, metallic, salty, with notes of hay and bark--and a fine yellow colour. "When choosing saffron, one should select broad, red, new-grown threads that are supple and fleshy to the touch, and yet dry, with a very aromatic odour." So wrote the expert for Diderot and d'Alemberts' Encyclopédie [1] and it was sage advice. For the world of saffron is full of powdered impostors, while genuine growths such as Zafferano dell'Aquila and Pennsylvania Dutch Saffron are rare. Its purple strands are the dried stigmas of the Crocus sativus, a member of the Iris family (Iridaceae) which flowers fashionably late, in October. It must be harvested by hand at dawn-and mibly too, so as not to damage the pistil. Shy and delicate it may be, but this confounded crocus has nevertheless made a place for itself in myth. The tale related the joint metamorphosis of two lovers--a handsome Arcadian youth, Krokos, or Crocus, and a nymph, Smilax--who were "changed into tiny flowers" [2]. A more tragic version tells of the accidental death of the said Crocus, when a discus thrown by a fond friend hit him on the head. Three drops of blood fell from the wound and fertilised the earth, brining forth a mauve flower with three red stigmas. The fond friend was Hermès.

--Text by Yves Nespoulous, Le Monde d'Hermès: Spring-Summer 2008, p.116.

[1]. Diderot and d'Alembert's Encyclopédie (1751-1772).
[2]. Ovid, Metamorphoses, book IV.

Saffron Ice Cream Recipe

For 1 litre of ice cream:

8 egg yolks
100 g of granulated sugar
750 ml of fresh full cream milk (or semi-skimmed for a lighter ice cream)
250 ml of creme fraiche
a few pistils of very good saffron

You will need a kitchen themometer marked in centigrade and an ice cream maker.

1.Bring the milk to the boil in a pan, then remove from the heat and allow the saffron to infuse for half an hour.
2.In the meantime, whisk together the egg yolks and sugar until the mixture turns white. Slowly pour in the warm milk, stirring all the while with a wooden spoon.
3.Wash the pan then pour in the mixture and heat it, stirring all the time, until the temperature reachers 87 degrees Celsius, then remove from the flame.
4.Add the cream, stir and pour the mixture through a fine strainer into a salad bowl. Leave to cool and then refrigerate overnight so that the flavours can blend properly.
5.The next day, freeze the mixture in the ice cream maker to give it a smooth, creamy texture. 6.Serve with a fruit salad and orange tuille biscuits (an important cooking rule: to keep the palate interested, it is always a good idea to combine crisp, soft and creamy ingredients).

*The "saddler's touch": using the same thin custard base (creme anglaise), you can make all kinds of unusual ice creams to serve with the first fruits of summer or the last ones of winter: saffron ice cream with orange salad, funnel ice cream with roasted figs, verbena ice cream with raspberries, etc. All you need to do is infuse the herb or spice or your choice in hot milk, and give your imagination free rein.

--Recipe by Élisabeth Larquetoux-Thiry, Le Monde d'Hermès: Spring-Summer 2008, p.116. Pic via DKI images.

For more saffron recipes: Mutton Buryani, Bouillabaise, Paella Valenciana, Mussels in a saffron white wine sauce
Visit the Glass Petal Smoke blog for another take on saffron.

Related reading on Perfume Shrine: the Saffron Series

*Article reproduced with every reservation on matters of copyright infringement (none intended), while every possible credit is being given. Should you feel it should not be online, nevertheless, please email us for removal.

A Christmas Tale told by Jean Claude Ellena

"It's December the 25th and my grand-children are calling me to unwrap their gifts. Hastily I put on an old, shapeless cashmere sweater imprisoning a sweet and sour smell, reminiscent of sweat and salt.
Everyone is gathered round the Christmas tree. The smaller kids throw themselves in my lap. Three ages, three smells that mingle into one. During the course of the evening, they lose the scent of their bath; their smell now is nothing but softness, tenderness and happiness. I don't dare breathe, I become intoxicated. Their three little, impatient mouths are spattered with chocolate. "Jean Claude, have you tried the one with orange zest?" "No, I prefer coarse dark chocolate; Caracas I think it's called."
The room is pervaded by aromas which don't blend. The smell of resin, of candles, the scent of yellow roses which reminds me of the scent of tea. Lunch will be a perfumed affair; a small bottle of fragrance will be slipped inside the napkins. With an Irish wife, one child married to an Italian and another to a German, dishes and desserts will be redolent of the whole of Europe! The kitchen is filled with the smell of butter and spices, coming from the pudding being cooked for an hour now. There will be white truffle from Alba and stuffed goose. To add to the tastes, we will talk about smells!"

~Jean Claude Ellena

Thanks to Jean Claude Ellena and au.feminin

An Award on Perfume Shrine's Lap

Christmas came early in the form of winning the Bronze Award in the Fragrantica Best Perfume Blogs Awards.

The aim was to provide a database of perfume blogs in multiple languages and is quite noble in itself. I urge you to check them all out!
We are among excellent company (Congratulations to all the other winners!*) and I thank everyone who voted for Perfume Shrine: Your loyal support and enthusiastic feedback is the very best part of running the Perfume Shrine project!

There will be a scheduled post tomorrow (uploaded from a distance...) with a little surprise tale for you!

*The other winners were Now Smell This(Gold), 1000 Fragrances and Bois de Jasmin(Silver) Perfume Smellin' Things, Perfume Posse & Perfume Critic (Bronze)
Pic via centurynovelty.com

I Can Hear People Singing, It must be Christmas Time

Albion is calling and I am leaving you with an old favourite: Chrissy Hynde and the Pretenders singing 2000 Miles from 1983.
Have the merriest Christmas imaginable!



Clip originally uploaded by cockaleekieman on Youtube.

Melomakarona and Kourambiedes: the aromata of Greek Christmas holidays

The word άρωμα (aroma) means several things in Greek: It denotes personal fragrance as a medium of enhancing one's aura, it evokes the content of bottles encapsuling precious essences to be used for aromatizing of various aims, but also it means the lingering smell in the air that might be coming off a fragrant kitchen, busy in preparation for a traditional feast; a feast that is more of a gregarious social and sensuous event than merely a casual gathering. Food and the hearth have always been at the core of Greek culture (the hearth, Εστία, had been an ancient Greek goddess, no less) and savouring the aromata (plural for aroma) in every step of the process is half the fun!
The celebration of the end of the year, including Christmas and the New Year's Eve, is forever in my mind steeped in the sweet smells emanating through the door of an oven while baking the traditional and idiosyncratic cookies of the season: μελομακάρονα/melomakarona and κουραμπιέδες/kourambiedes. Although there are other delicacies around and everyone has to have something sweet on hand for the kid-carolers who come to the house on the morning of each celebration's Eve (caramelised nuts and raisins, marrons glacés and marrons déguisés in chocolate, candied orange rind, and δίπλες/"deeples" or "diples", that is Greek Honey Curls: pieces of fried and suryped dough sprinkled with chopped nuts, supposedly looking like Christ's swaddling clothes) it's those two mentioned above that are most popular and characteristic, found in every home from the most humble to the most extravagant.

So here are the recipes I use, handed down from my mother and grandmothers (excellent cooks all of them) for you to recreate the homely and sensuous atmosphere of this little corner of the world. They're easy to make and very flavourful!

Melomakarona (pronounced Meh-lo-ma-KA-row-na) Recipe
Ingredients for the dough
1 cup Extra Virgin olive oil
1/2 cup white sugar
2 juiced oranges
1/2 juiced lemon
1 egg yolk
3 cups self-raising flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground clove
1 1/3 cups chopped walnuts

Ingredients for the syrup
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup boiling water
1 cinnamon stick
4 cloves
1/2 juiced lemon

1.Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F/gas mark 4 and line 2 flat baking trays with baking paper.
2. Beat oil, sugar, 1/2 cup orange juice and 2 tablespoons lemon juice. You can do this by hand (I do) or use an electric mixer on high speed until thick and creamy.
3.Add egg yolk and beat again, but not too much this time (you want to trap in air so that it raises when baking).
4.Sift flour and add half the cinnamon and the clove to the oil mixture. Fold gently to combine (it should have a doughy texture).
5.Using your flour-dusted hands (so dough doesn't stick)hands, roll the mixture into oval shapes without pressing them too much. Dough should make about 32 pieces. Place on prepared trays without touching one another (as they will expand while baking).
6.Bake for 25 minutes or until firm to the touch and then allow to cool on trays.
7.To make the syrup combine all ingredients in a saucepan over medium to high heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar at first and bring to the boil. Then reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer for 4 minutes or until syrup thickens slightly: you want it to form "drops" when you pour it from a spoon.
8.Using a slotted spoon, dip the cool cookies, 1 at a time, into the hot syrup for about 30 seconds (no more or they become very sweet and sticky!), turning over until well coated. Return to trays. The cool cookie, hot suryp is the secret that makes them absorb the suryp best and thus remain delectably moist and soft.
9.Combine chopped walnuts and remaining ground cinnamon. Sprinkle over cookies: the suryp should make them mostly "stick" on top. Allow to cool completely and they're ready to serve.

Melomakarona are also called Φοινίκια (phoenekia), especially when they're shaped like fingers, in some regions of Greece (mainly where Greek refugees from the -now Turkish- Smyna and Constantinople came to). They keep for a long time (up to a month, although you're sure to consume them long before that!) outside of the fridge thanks to the high sugar ratio; just keep them in an air-tight biscuit box so they don't become dry due to air exposure.
Their clove-y smell is captured in a wonderfully indulgent little solid scent by Pacifica: Madagascar Spice.

Kourambiedes (pronounced koo-rah-bee-YEH-thess) Recipe


Ingredients
4 cups of sheep's butter (cow's can be substituted, but the traditional method calls for sheep)
2 cups of confectioner's sugar
2 egg yolks
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
2 teaspoons of baking powder
3 tablespoons of brandy liquor or ouzo (or orange juice, if you don't want to use alcohol)
1 cup of coarsely chopped roasted almonds
12 cups (1 1/2 kg or 3 1/3 lbs) of all-purpose flour
2 cups of confectioner's sugar (for dusting)
rose water or orange blossom water (about half a cup)

1.Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F/gas mark 4 and line 2 flat baking trays with baking paper.
2.Cream the butter (at room temperature) and sugar in a mixing bowl by hand, until white.
3.Dissolve the baking powder in the brandy/ouzo/orange juice and fold into the mixture, along with the egg yolks, vanilla, and almonds, one by one.
3.Gradually add flour without beating too much.
4.Knead the dough gently by hand until malleable. You don't want to let air escape, as it will contribute to making the cookies fluffy and soft.
5.Rolling the dough on flour-dusted hands (so it doesn't stick) roll the mixture into dome-shaped circles (thick like a pinkie finger). The dough should make about 50pieces. Place them on baking sheet without touching one another (as they will expand while baking).
6.Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes or until cookies barely turn to golden brown. Get them out of the oven and allow to cool completely.
7.Sift confectioner's sugar onto a large tray or cookie sheet. As soon as the cookies are done, sprinkle them with the rose water or orange blossom water and dust them with the sugar. When all the cookies have been coated once, repeat (without sprinkling them in any liquid this time)cool.
8.Serve them in layers on a serving platter that has been dusted with sugar.

These buttery Greek Shortbread Cookies were also given in weddings and christenings once upon a time, because they look pure white, a symbol of new beginnings. They melt in the mouth and are very soft and fragile, so handle them gently!
Kourabiedes will keep for a couple of months thanks to the sugar if stored in an air-tight container. Make sure there's a dusting of powdered sugar on the bottom of the container, then layer cookies as above, each layer with a covering of sugar. Wait one day after baking to cover with an airtight lid, though.

If you're left with too much uncooked dough, you can wrap it well in plastic wrap, put in the freezer and it will keep for up to two months. When ready to use, remove and let the dough sit a while till malleable. Beat with the mixer briefly to aerate the dough ands you're ready to follow steps 5-8.

Happy Holidays!

Pic of Melomakarona by Steve Brown via taste.com.au, pic of Kourambiedes via dianasdesserts.com