Saffron harvest under way at Glenlyon, near Daylesford

LITZA Kikidopoulos works all year for a crop weighing just 80 grams.

Precious: Litza Kikidopoulos shows off a crocus flower with its saffron threads at her Glenlyon farm. Picture: Zoe Phillips

LITZA Kikidopoulos works all year for a crop weighing just 80 grams.

Saffron is by far the most delicate, labour-intensive and expensive crop in the world.

Saffron costs the consumer an average of $10-$20 a gram ($10,000-$20,000/kg) — more than truffles or caviar.

With more than 300 strands or threads (flower stigmas) per gram, and each flower producing three stigmas, it takes about 100 to 150 flowers to produce just one gram.

It is the peak of saffron harvest for Litza, who grows more than 20,000 Crocus sativus bulbs at her Glenlyon property, near Daylesford in Victoria.

The tiny bulbs range from pea-size to walnut-size and are grown in two garden beds — just 13m x 5m and 4m x 2m.

“They’re little plants and they don’t take up much space,” Litza said.

Each bulb produces three or four flowers.

This year’s harvest started two week’s earlier than last year’s after an ideal season.

“The plants need a cold winter and a dry summer,” Litza said.

The crop must be harvested every day during the six weeks it flowers — ideally at dawn for optimum quality.

“The flowers are at their best when they just start to open,” Litza said.

“The idea is to pick the strands of saffron before the flower wilts and deteriorates.”

Some mornings, Litza harvests up to 3000 flowers by hand, which can take five hours.

“Nothing about the harvesting process can be mechanised, which is why it is such a rare and expensive crop,” Litza said.

After they’re picked, the saffron strands are dried and packaged in what Litza calls 50mg “one time use” parcels for special dishes.