How much saffron to use

Rice for four: 0.05 to 0.1 gram, a small pinch of whole threads. A chicken stew for four: up to about 0.15 gram. A pot of milk for two: a few threads, well under 0.05 gram, because milk shows every rough note. A pot of mussels for two sits near 0.05 gram, since the shellfish are only in the pan for a few minutes and the bloom has to be ready first.

Weigh it once on a scale that reads hundredths of a gram. Memorize what that pinch looks like in your palm. After that, stop weighing every Tuesday. The scale is there to calibrate your hand.

Teaspoons and packets

A teaspoon of whole threads is far more than a pinch, and more than most home dishes can carry. A teaspoon of powder is a different volume again. A "packet" might be 0.1 gram or it might be a sachet of yellow powder with a little saffron in the ingredient list. Trust a weight you chose, and taste.

A half-gram jar is five pinches at 0.1 gram. That is five careful dinners, or more if you cook at the smaller end. It is the right size to learn on. What those dinners cost, at the list prices we read, is worked out on Saffron Cost.

When more saffron makes a worse dish

If you crush a thread and smell dust, the jar is tired. It will still stain a pot. Doubling it will not bring the hay and honey back. It will add the bitter register that tired saffron still has. Buy a fresh half-gram. Keep it airtight, in the dark, off the stove. A clear jar on a windowsill is spending the aroma on the view.

The right amount smells floral from the doorway. The wrong amount tastes metallic in the spoon.