Krokos Kozanis Saffron

Saffron has been grown around Krokos since the seventeenth century, and the Krokos Kozanis crocus holds protected designation of origin status, recognised as among the highest-grade saffron in the world for its colouring and aroma. The plant flowers for roughly two weeks in late October and early November, when the fields turn violet; flowers must be picked before the sun opens them, so families work from before dawn, then sit indoors separating the three red stigmas from each bloom by hand. It takes something like 150,000 flowers to make a kilogram of dried saffron, which explains the price. The producers' cooperative in Krokos, founded in 1971, handles nearly all the crop, runs a small visitor space and sells directly, and the village holds a saffron festival during the harvest.

What you actually see

• The purple fields - crocus blooms covering the plain for two weeks.
• The dawn picking - families harvesting before the flowers open.
• The stigma separation - hand-sorting of the red threads indoors.
• The cooperative - the producers' organisation selling and explaining the crop.

When to go

Late October to early November, and only then, for the flowering and harvest; the fields are bare earth the rest of the year. The cooperative sells year-round and can be visited by arrangement.

Honest expectations

Outside the two-week window there is nothing to see in the fields. Harvest happens at dawn on private land, so watching requires arranging through the cooperative rather than wandering in. The village itself is plain.

Nearby

Kozani is ten minutes north; the Aliakmonas lakes and Siatista lie south and west.