La Mancha Saffron

Saffron came to Spain under Muslim rule and La Mancha has grown it for over a thousand years, with the protected designation Azafran de La Mancha covering the region. The crop demands hand labour at every stage: the crocus flowers open for a few days in late October and early November and must be picked at dawn before the sun opens them fully, then the three red stigmas are separated by hand from each flower, a job done indoors by families and neighbours around a table, and finally toasted over low heat, which is the step La Mancha producers argue distinguishes their saffron. It takes around 250,000 flowers for a kilo. Consuegra holds a saffron festival with a stigma-separation competition.

What you actually see

• The purple fields - crocus in bloom at dawn for a few days each autumn.
• The hand picking - families gathering flowers before the sun opens them.
• The monda - stigmas separated by hand around a table indoors.
• The Consuegra festival - a rose-plucking competition in late October.

When to go

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

Honest expectations

The window is short and shifts with the weather, so timing is a gamble. Fields are private working land. Much saffron sold as Spanish is imported and repackaged, so the protected designation label matters when buying.

Nearby

The Consuegra windmills stand above the town; Madridejos and the Mancha villages lie around.