Kozani Saffron

Saffron has been grown around Kozani since the seventeenth century, when the crocus was brought from Austria, and the area around the village of Krokos is now the only significant producer in Greece, holding Protected Designation of Origin status as Krokos Kozanis. For two or three weeks from late October the fields turn purple at dawn, and whole families pick the flowers by hand before the sun opens them fully; the three red stigmas are then separated indoors, dried and graded. It takes roughly 150,000 flowers to make a kilo of dried saffron, which is why the price is what it is. The growers' cooperative, founded in 1971, controls the trade, and the harvest weeks bring a small festival to Krokos.

What you actually see

• The purple fields - crocus blooming in the dawn hours of late autumn.
• The hand picking - families gathering flowers before the sun rises high.
• The stigma separation - red threads pulled from flowers indoors.
• The cooperative - grading, packing and direct sales in Krokos.

When to go

The last week of October and the first of November, which is the entire harvest; outside those weeks the fields are bare earth and there is nothing to see. Picking happens at first light.

Honest expectations

The window is short and shifts with the weather, so timing a visit is a gamble. Fields are private working land; watch from the edge unless invited. Krokos village is plain, and there is no formal visitor centre.

Nearby

Kozani town and its lake are close; Siatista's mansions and the Aliakmon reservoir lie south.