The Khorasan plateau in the hour before sunrise: cold air over long rows of the closed crocus, the ridge line barely legible against a paling sky.

LA MAISON — CHAPTER II

The Harvest

A few weeks each autumn. At dawn. By hand.

A wide plateau of saffron rows at first light, low mountains on the horizon, the field pale under a cold autumn sky. — The field — village, Khorasan.

KHORASAN, Iran

A plateau, and a poor generous soil

Crocus sativus is a plant of the high plateaux. It asks for cold nights, bright days, and a poor generous soil — conditions that Khorasan, in the east of Iran, has held for as long as the crop has been named.

Our field sits on such a plateau, above the valley floor and below the first line of the mountains. The elevation, the diurnal swing, and the light are why the flower here carries the depth it does.

Region: Khorasan, Iran
Village: — to be confirmed
Elevation: — m to be confirmed
Field: — to be confirmed

The flower blooms once a year.For a few short weeks of autumn.Each blossom opens for a single morning.

Late October — early November, dates confirmed each year.

Two hands closing around a shut crocus bloom at first light, frost on the soil beyond, a shallow basket resting against the row. — The picking — dawn, by hand.

THE PICKING

Before the sun does its work

The flowers are picked closed, before the sun does its work. After sunrise the petals open and the aroma begins to leave; the picking is a race against the light, and its pace is set by the field, not by us.

One bloom at a time, by hand. No machine exists for this work; none is possible. By mid-morning the last basket is carried indoors, and the field falls quiet until the following dawn.

THE COUNT

One flower: Three stigmas
One hundred and fifty flowers: One gram
A few weeks — one harvest: One year

There is no way to change these numbers. There never has been.

Trimmed crimson stigmas laid to dry on dark trays in a low, shaded room; the light is faint and the surface still. — The drying room — method and duration to be confirmed.

THE DRYING

Four fifths, surrendered

The same day continues indoors. Within hours of the last basket, the three crimson stigmas are separated from the flower and laid to dry — slowly, in shade, away from any warmth that would carry the aroma off with the water.

In drying, four fifths of the weight is surrendered. What remains fits easily in a palm, and carries the entire field.

A grower’s working hands resting on the rim of a filled basket at the field’s edge, the crop still bright between them; face outside the frame. — Growers — family names to be confirmed.

FAMILY SELECTION

Growers we know by name

The relationship with the growers is measured in years, not in transactions. The harvest is attended in person; the house stands, each autumn, in the field it buys from.

This is simply what we mean by Family Selection: growers we know by name, fields we return to, a small circle of people doing the same work each year, together.

Relationship since: — year to be confirmed
Harvest attended: — each autumn, in person

What the field gives, the table judges

The harvest arrives. The selection begins.

The Craft of Selection