Editing Saffron (section)

===Western Europe===
[[File:Crocus sativus 003.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Preserved "Safran", Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde, Karlsruhe, Germany]]
Saffron was a notable ingredient in certain Roman recipes such as [[jusselle]] and [[conditum]].<ref name="Way 1843 p. 268">{{cite book | last=Way | first=A. | title=Promptorium parvulorum sive clericorum, lexicon Anglo-Latinum princeps, recens. A. Way | series=Camden soc | issue=v. 1 | year=1843 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G_0UAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA268 | access-date=18 May 2016 | page=268}}</ref><ref name="Pratt 1855 p. 180">{{cite book | last=Pratt | first=A. | title=The Flowering Plants of Great Britain | publisher=Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge | issue=v. 3 | year=1855 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ji8OAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA180 | access-date=18 May 2016 | page=180}}</ref><ref name="Napier 1882 p. 104">{{cite book | editor-last=Napier | editor-first=R. | title=A Noble Boke Off Cookry Ffor a Prynce Houssolde Or Eny Other Estately Houssholde | publisher=Elliot Stock | year=1882 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XPspAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA104 | access-date=18 May 2016 | pages=104–105}} (Reprinted verbatim from a rare manuscript in the Holkham Collection.)</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.klassischearchaeologie.phil.uni-erlangen.de/realia/essen/rezepte/conditum.html |title=Conditum Paradoxum – Würzwein |translator-first=R. |translator-last=Maier |year=1991 |language=de |trans-title=Conditum Paradoxum – Spiced Wine |access-date=3 February 2012 |archive-date=8 March 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180308040216/http://www.klassischearchaeologie.phil.uni-erlangen.de/realia/essen/rezepte/conditum.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> Such was the Romans' love of saffron that Roman colonists took it with them when they settled in southern [[Gaul]], where it was extensively cultivated until Rome's fall. With this fall, European saffron cultivation plummeted. Competing theories state that saffron only returned to France with 8th-century AD Moors or with the [[Avignon]] papacy in the 14th century AD.{{Sfn|Willard|2002|p=63}} Similarly, the spread of Islamic civilisation may have helped reintroduce the crop to Spain and Italy.{{Sfn|Willard|2002|p=70}}

The 14th-century [[Black Death]] caused demand for saffron-based [[medicament]]s to peak, and Europe imported large quantities of threads via Venetian and Genoan ships from southern and Mediterranean lands such as Rhodes. The theft of one such shipment by noblemen sparked the fourteen-week-long [[Saffron War]].{{Sfn|Willard|2002|p=99}} The conflict and resulting fear of rampant saffron piracy spurred corm cultivation in [[Basel]]; it thereby grew prosperous.{{Sfn|Willard|2002|p=101}} The crop then spread to [[Nuremberg]], where endemic and insalubrious adulteration brought on the ''Safranschou'' code—whereby culprits were variously fined, imprisoned, and executed.{{Sfn|Willard|2002|pp=103–104}} Meanwhile, cultivation continued in southern France, Italy, and Spain.{{Sfn|Willard|2002|p=133}}

Direct archaeological evidence of mediaeval saffron consumption in Scandinavia comes from the wreck of the royal Danish-Norwegian flagship, [[Gribshunden]]. The ship sank in 1495 while on a diplomatic mission to Sweden. Excavations in 2021 revealed concentrations of saffron threads and small "pucks" of compressed saffron powder, along with fresh ginger, cloves, and pepper. Surprisingly, the saffron retained its distinctive odour even after more than 500 years of submersion in the Baltic Sea.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Larsson |first1=Mikael |last2=Foley |first2=Brendan |date=2023-01-26 |title=The king's spice cabinet–Plant remains from Gribshunden, a 15th century royal shipwreck in the Baltic Sea |journal=PLOS ONE |language=en |volume=18 |issue=1 |pages=e0281010 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0281010 |doi-access=free |issn=1932-6203 |pmc=9879437 |pmid=36701280|bibcode=2023PLoSO..1881010L }}</ref>

The [[Essex]] town of [[Saffron Walden]], named for its new specialty crop, emerged as a prime saffron growing and trading centre in the 16th and 17th centuries but cultivation there was abandoned; saffron was re-introduced around 2013 as well as other parts of the UK (Cheshire).<ref name=BBCessex2014>{{cite news|last1=Granleese|first1=Bob|title=Interview: Meet the saffron producer: 'It seemed ridiculous that the UK didn't grow it' |url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/nov/16/meet-the-saffron-producer-uk |work=The Guardian|date=16 November 2013}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{cite news|title=Saffron spice returns to Essex after 200 years |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-essex-29943720 |work=BBC News|date=7 November 2014}}</ref>