Saffron - The World's Most Expensive Spice
Real saffron is expensive to produce, plain and simple. Expect to spend at least $10 for one gram and be discerning of anything much cheaper. Saffron has been used since centuries to produce spice, dyes, and medicines. Since such a small part of the flower is used, it takes 75,000 saffron flowers to make one pound of saffron spice. The small amount of saffron spice per plant, along with the fact that harvesting must be done manually, leads to saffron's being very expensive.