HEALTH & BEAUTY BENEFITS: SAFFRON EDITION ⋆ Sweet & Masālā

I’m back with a brand new edition and feeling very ‘90s’esque channeling my inner Vanilla Ice…does anybody know what happened to him anyway?

anyways.

Happy Friday! How are you? Excited for the weekend I hope, I know I am. This week at work was a little crazy so I am glad to have a few days of downtime, ie. football and beer all weekend!

This week I am eager to share the health and beauty benefits of one of my favorite spices, Saffron!

Saffron, often called Kesar in Hindi, is a very popular spice all over the world, and an expensive one too!

Although it is best often known as a food addition, Saffron’s unique color, flavor, and other properties give it culinary and medicinal characteristics that make it renowned all over the world.

Saffron contains more than 150 volatile (easily becomes a vapor or gas) and aroma yielding compounds as well as certain non-volatile compounds. Saffron is rich in carotenoids such as picrocrocin and lycopene, which are responsible for the spices’ deep orange and golden hues.

A volatile oil Safranal, which is responsible for the rich fragrance of saffron, is an antioxidant with huge qualities of scavenging away free radicals. Safranal is also known to help prevent and lower the risk of certain cancers. Saffron is mainly grown in Spain, Italy, Iran and Kashmir.

Let’s jump on in to some of the health and beauty benefits of this sexy spice.

Health & Beauty Benefits of Saffron:

Prevents Disease:

It contains many plant-derived chemical components which are known to prevent diseases. They are also known to promote the overall well-being of the body.

Volatile Oils:

The plant part from which saffron is obtained contains essential but volatile oils which, when added to food, imparts its unique flavor and benefits of saffron as a spice.

Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Diseases:

Effective in treating Alzheimer’s disease and beat out a placebo in the treatment of Alzheimer’s dementia symptoms. Consumption of this beautiful spice can reduce cellular stresses and protect the central nervous system. It helps in recollection of data and aids in memory.

Heart Health:

The rich antioxidants of saffron can lower cholesterol and triglyceride levels in the blood by unclogging the arteries. It also improves the pumping of oxygen which can keep the circulatory system healthy and removes plaque from the arteries, helping the heart to be healthy.

Mental Health:

The extract is also known to help treat depression, reduce stress, and to be a mood enhancer and is also widely used as an aphrodisiac.

Combats Hair Loss:

It can be mixed with licorice and milk and applied to bald spots. This will combat hair loss and promote hair growth.

Treatment Of Dry Skin:

If you have dull and dry skin, you can prepare a mask with lemon and saffron. Lemon cleans your skin from deep within while saffron provides luminosity to it.

Heals Wounds And Scars:

Warriors in the past have been known to use the extract to treat wounds suffered in battle. Saffron holds amazing healing properties that go a long way in healing wounds and removing scars and spots for a blemish free skin tone.

Cures Acne:

Saffron is filled with anti-bacterial qualities, which make it ideal for curing acne. Saffron’s exfoliating qualities make it a wonderful aid in clearing and brightening up the complexion.

Removes Tan:

By enhancing the skin’s quality as it cleanses it from all the clogged dirt, it improves complexion by lightening the skin tone.

I knew I loved this spice for a reason!

Although there are a plethora of health benefits, the beauty benefits are what is intriguing to me. I literally had no idea that Saffron was used in India as a regular beauty treatment.

For regular glowing skin try making a face pack; apply a mixture of honey and saffron to your face. Honey hydrates while the magic pink strands improve blood circulation, helping that glow really POP.

I hope you all are just as excited as I am about Saffron! It is a little pricey but worth it for the results! xx