Two Kinds of Saffron Carmen Won't Sell You

Carmen, who runs Fosetter in Montreal's Chinatown, grades her Iranian saffron by the length of the three stigmas each flower produces: the higher the grade, the longer the threads, and the lowest grade is short all around. The saffron she carries now is called Negin A Plus — the longest cut. She used to also carry a shorter, lower grade called 沙狗, but not anymore.

There's another kind of saffron she never sells.

Spanish saffron, she says, has its own uses — soaking your hands, taking a bath, or going into Spanish paella. It's a real product with a real purpose. It's just not what she sells as drinking saffron.

So what does she actually sell?

"I've sold through all of it, piece by piece," she says of her current stock — all Negin A Plus, all long threads. No leftover batches, no 沙狗. As for the Spanish saffron sitting in her shop: "I use it for comparison. I've never sold it. What I actually sell is all this," she says, pointing to her own stock.

Nothing here is labeled fake. The lower grade and the Spanish saffron are both real products with real uses — she's just telling customers plainly which one she's actually selling, and why the other two aren't on her shelf as drinking saffron.