Seventy-two percent of all Americans with pets sign their pet’s names on greeting cards that they send. The Great Mushroom Hunt Championships are held in Illinois. The Indian railway system employs more than a million people, making it the biggest company in the world.

When you’re into seven-digit employee numbers you know you’ve got a large staff.

Sometimes the label warning seems a bit unnecessary as on a kid’s Superman costume, “Wearing of this garment does not enable you to fly.”.

For the chemistry-minded among my readers, please note that Coca-Cola has a pH rating of 2.5.

The vehicle used a tomato can as a carburetor.

I don’t know when the Harley T-shirts first appeared, but the first Harley-Davidson motorcycle was built in 1903.

I don’t know if he likes paella or was just being a good guy. I particularly enjoy its contribution to paella.Īs an additional bit of trivia, the whispered voices on Donovan’s hit record are Paul McCartney’s. Soak the strands in a cup of warm water to bring out the aroma and then introduce toward the end of the cooking process to achieve the most flavorful results.

To avoid getting the altered stuff today, buy only saffron strands, bright orange not yellow. The penalty for this in the Middle Ages was severe culprits caught diluting the stuff were burned at the stake (without seasoning). Some unscrupulous merchants adulterate the powdered product in order to increase the volume before sale. Roughly 225,000 stigmas are required to yield one pound of saffron. Next in the process, the stigmas are dried, causing them to lose 80 percent of their weight, but intensifying their flavor. These things have to be picked at dawn (count me out) before the sun gets too hot and the flowers wilt. Each flower has only three of the little stigmas. Now for the complications, the stuff is so rare (great ’50s song) because the little crocuses (croci?) only bloom for two weeks each autumn.

Why is it so expensive you may ask (please do)? Saffron is obtained from the threadlike stigma of a violet-colored crocus. Originally native to Greece and Asia Minor (which may have had an inferiority complex when compared to Asia Major), the Phoenicians took it to Spain in the 10th century. Saffron is today’s subject.įrom the beginning of prehistoric times it’s been as precious as gold - but harder to make into jewelry. You’d know him better as Donovan and the song was “Mellow Yellow,” but he mentioned the most expensive spice in the world in the song’s first line. Leitch mentioned it, “I’m just wild about …” in a hit song from 1966, although he may have been talking about a woman.

Mellow yellow greeley