Saffron is the world's most expensive spice, made from the tiny red threads found inside a particular type of purple crocus flower. Each flower produces only three delicate threads, and they must be harvested by hand, which is why a pound of saffron can cost thousands of dollars.

Despite its price, people have prized saffron for over 3,000 years. It gives food a distinctive golden-yellow color and a subtle, hard-to-describe flavor that's slightly sweet and earthy. Rice dishes like Spanish paella and Italian risotto often use saffron, as do certain Indian curries and Middle Eastern desserts. Just a few threads can transform an entire pot of rice into a brilliant yellow dish.

The word also describes a rich golden-orange color, like the sunset or the robes worn by Buddhist monks. When someone says a cloth is saffron-colored, they mean it has that warm, glowing yellow-orange hue.

Because real saffron is so costly, some merchants try to sell fake versions using cheaper yellow dyes or different plant materials. Throughout history, selling fake saffron was considered such a serious crime that some places punished counterfeiters harshly. The spice was simply too valuable and too culturally important to allow cheating in the marketplace.