On a lifestyle block at Bannockburn, there's a buzz that has little to do with the abundance of bees.
It is the business end of the saffron season and Maurice Watson and partner Megan Huffadine are contemplating, often on bended knees, the results of a hot summer and a kind autumn.
They have just under half a hectare of land, of which about a third is devoted to the crop. The couple operate the Heart of the Desert Saffron Co, supplying saffron to chefs, restaurants and luxury lodges throughout the country.
"This is peak season,'' Maurice says amid dozens of rows of mauve crocus flowers, which hold within them those all-important, blood-red stigmas, highly prized by cooks through the centuries for their colouring quality, aroma and flavour.
The plants started flowering in late March and the couple expect the bulk of their work will continue for another fortnight before tapering off over another two or three weeks. There will come a time when they ignore what blooms remain and move on from the hectic picking.
"This has been a particularly warm summer so we expect it will be an excellent season,'' Maurice says.
"Last year, right across New Zealand, production was down perhaps 20% because the summer in 2006-07 was cool. This year, this will be a peak season as opposed to a trough.''
Saffron and Central Otago make good partners. The saffron crocus (Crocus sativus L.) likes hot summers, with soil temperatures above 23degC for 50 days prompting maximum flowering. It is also a hardy flower, able to tolerate frost and snow.
"It has adapted to Crete, Greece, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Kashmir, Spain,'' Maurice explains.
"That's where the bulk of the world's production is. It is suited to a hot, dry, harsh climate.
However, there are people growing it in the Hokianga [Northland] and in Lorneville [Southland].''
Saffron is the world's most expensive spice. A Crop and Food Research paper released in 2003 put wholesale prices at $NZ1500 per kilogram on the New York spot market, with the potential retail price some 10 to 15 times above this figure in New Zealand.
That is a result of the labour required to harvest the crop: each saffron flower contains just three stigmas and must be picked by hand. Maurice and Megan, like many, use their thumbnails to snip the flowers. Later in the day - indeed, often late at night - the couple process the plants in their house, removing the stigmas from the flowers.
"It is very labour-intensive,'' Maurice says. "You have to be able to bend a lot... you have to look after your body. In frosts, we have hand-warmers that we use. Megan has special gloves.
You've just got to carry on because tomorrow there are going to be this many flowers again.
They'll go off. If you leave them here for a couple of days then the quality of them will deteriorate quite significantly.
"If we are aiming at the top end of the market then we need to pick them every day.''
In good conditions, Megan can pick 2000 flowers an hour but, Maurice concedes, "that is really going for it''. He regards 1000-1500 an hour as a reasonable effort.
"To do 10,000 flowers is probably five hours' work for two people.''
Maurice says about 125 flowers are required to make a gram of dried saffron, with up to 80g produced on a peak day. That equates to $NZ1500, but he is quick to quash any thoughts the industry is a pot of gold.
"It is an alternative income. It's not a sole income... It is hard work. We might clear $10 an hour for our work,'' he explains, adding there are other time-intensive factors to consider such as weeding, dividing and replanting corms [the plant's root-ball], watering and fertilisation.
"At the end of the day, you are doing this because you're trying to earn money based on the number of hours you put in. You have to balance it out. 'What's my hourly rate?'.''
Maurice manages Milford Galleries Queenstown (one of three dealer galleries in the Milford galleries company); Megan is an artist and is working towards a solo show in Dunedin in August.
Thus a key aspect of their saffron-growing business is convenience.
"You can go and do it at your back door for short periods of time... hence the lifestyle block is well suited to it. You can only grow as much as you can pick,'' Maurice says.
Both are originally from Southland, though they spent time in Dunedin and, more recently, Nelson before moving to Cromwell in 2000. After spending six months looking for suitable land, they built a house and started planting saffron in 2001.
"We hadn't had a lot of experience with saffron. It was something that was suggested to us by Megan's brother-in-law, who is head of the horticultural unit at Otago Polytechnic [in Cromwell]. We went and planted the corms and then found out there was a huge amount that we didn't know,'' Maurice reflects.
Four years ago, prompted by concern he had for others entering the business and a desire to achieve and maintain high standards, Maurice established Saffron Growers Incorporated, an informal education and information-sharing network of 45 growers, mostly spread across Central Otago.
Of these, four "are contracted to grow saffron to our specifications for the Heart of the Desert Saffron brand''.
A similar organisation exists in Hawkes Bay, Maurice says, adding the two groups roughly cover half the saffron growers in New Zealand.
"It's hard to know how many there are, really. Some people may have half a dozen or 20 corms in the backyard for fun. They'll get a few stigmas off and cook with them. Some people may have 500 corms in.
"It's about giving people good information, trying to solve problems and encouraging people to agree to a set of standards... If someone down the road starts doing it and produces poor quality, it reflects on everyone. It is also about co-operating so we can compete with the cheap Iranian imported saffron.
"Iran is the biggest producer in the world. You can go into your supermarket and buy Iranian saffron and pay $6 to $12 a gram.
Our Central Otago saffron sells for more than twice that. If you're not growing top quality then you're competing with the Iranian saffron, which means you might not be that financially successful.
"And that takes us back to where we started - there is no point growing this stuff unless you've got a market for it.''
The market for this operation is the top end. One of the largest producers in the country, Heart of the Desert Saffron has a client base that features top restaurants, luxury lodges and chefs throughout New Zealand. Otago establishments include Fleur's Place, Conservatory Restaurant, Eichardt's, Edgewater Resort, The Winehouse & Kitchen and Gibbston Valley.
It is a mutually beneficial arrangement: good chefs require good saffron; good saffron requires a chef who knows how to use it well.
"I remember trying a saffron dish at one well-known restaurant and being very disappointed how nondescript it tasted,'' Maurice laments.
"I've now got to the point where if I do think they haven't used it to its potential, I'll say so, because we are all in the same industry. I want chefs producing top quality because people who have really good experiences eating saffron are going to not only try it again but they will tell others, who will in turn try it, benefiting not only the chefs and their restaurants but us, the saffron producers.
"It is in everyone's interests that chefs experiment with saffron and try different combinations and use it really well.'
