Every autumn season, the fields around Pampore, a town in the Pulwama district of Kashmir located approximately 16 kilometers from Srinagar, turn purple almost overnight. The crocuses bloom at the end of October and disappear by mid-November each year.
This short period is significant because Pampore produces about 80 percent of Kashmir's saffron, which is obtained from the stigmas of Crocus sativus flowers. The plant blooms only once a year, and this occurs only when autumn becomes cool.
The blooming time is determined long in advance. Farmers plow the fields in March and April, treat the soil during the summer to retain moisture, and then plant the bulbs at the end of July into soil that remains moist but never waterlogged.
After planting, the bulbs await changes in weather. Cool days closer to the end of October trigger flowering, and timely rains in September and October support it, causing the flowers to bloom within the same few weeks every year.
As soon as the flowers open, families must act very quickly. They go out at dawn, hand-picking every flower into woven baskets, and walk through each field three times to collect the flowers in full bloom.
All these efforts yield a small harvest because only a part of each flower is used. Each flower has three crimson stigmas, and approximately 150,000 flowers are needed to obtain one kilogram of dried saffron, which explains its high price.
The harvest ends quickly, but the work continues indoors. In November and early December, families gather in living rooms to separate the stigmas from the petals, sharing old stories and songs with visiting relatives.
Saffron is closely linked to local culture. On the first day of the harvest, farmers bring some saffron to the shrine of Hazrat Sheikh Sharif-ud-Din in Namblabal, Pampore, and an annual state festival welcomes visitors to the fields.
After separating the stigmas, they are dried, which preserves quality and extends shelf life for several years. Thus, fresh Kashmiri saffron only reaches the markets from late November, after sorting and grading each year.
The short saffron bloom depends on cool days, soil moisture, and autumn rains; recent dry periods have reduced harvests. For the families of Pampore, these few weeks of the year provide both a livelihood and a shared heritage.
