KERBY — Tanya Golden plucked a flower from a greenhouse bed, unfurled its purple petals and removed three long stigmas — reddish-orange strands resembling butterfly antennae.

Dried and cured, these strands will become saffron, the world’s most valuable spice, which Golden sells for $60 per gram.

“It’s the most amazing plant ever,” she said.

Golden runs one of only a few Western U.S. saffron farms. The spice, which originated in Greece, today is mainly cultivated in the Eastern Mediterranean region and India.

Golden said she got her lifelong interest in plants from her homesteading grandmothers and her mother, Patricia Golden, an Oregon tree fruit grower.

Golden — of Grand Ronde and Cherokee descent — first thought of growing saffron while taking a micro-enterprise class at the Native American Youth and Family Center in Portland. She recalls that when her teacher, Santiago Vazquez, held up a jar of saffron, an idea took hold of her: Could she grow saffron in Oregon?

In 2017, she founded Golden Tradition Saffron LLC on a farm in North Plains, near Portland, and used a USDA grant to build high tunnels.

Golden sought advice from saffron researchers at the University of Vermont on how to grow crocus sativus flowers, from which the spice is derived.

She bought her first corms, or bulbs, from the Netherlands.

As the business grew, she built four greenhouses and expanded with a second operation in Kerby, near Cave Junction.

Her mother, daughters and a friend, Michele Ray, help run the northern farm. Her partner, Shon Peterson, supports her work at the southern farm.

Golden’s first customer was Finnriver Farm & Cidery in Washington, which used her saffron to make a hard cider. Golden sells to chefs, home cooks and the food service sector.

In the future, Golden also plans to sell medicinal saffron. According to studies in the Journal of Medicinal Plants Research, saffron has been used to treat coronary artery diseases, hypertension, memory impairments, stomach disorders and depression.

Golden has marketed her saffron as pure and locally grown, setting herself apart in a global market plagued with fraud.

According to researchers, sellers often adulterate saffron by adding cheap materials to the final product to increase their profits. Common additives include artificial colors, pomegranate fibers, marigolds and even red-dyed silk fibers.

Although Golden sells unadulterated saffron at a premium, she said producing the spice is not a get-rich-quick scheme because it demands expensive inputs.

During summer, Golden plants dormant corms. She flood-irrigates three to four times per season. The flowers pop up in the fall, and harvest is September through November.

The crop must be tended carefully, as it is susceptible to Fusarium corm rot and rodent damage.

Harvest — done entirely by hand — involves removing stigmas from each flower, then heat-drying and curing them for three to six months.

During harvest, a heavy floral scent fills the greenhouses. After drying and curing, the saffron smells earthy, spicy and hay-like.

It takes 150 to 170 flowers to make 1 gram of saffron.

Golden said she enjoys farming and making culinary creations with saffron: Spanish paella, saffron chicken and tea.

“I’m in love with it,” she said.

– Sierra Dawn McClain is a reporter for Capital Press.

Name: Tanya Golden

Age: 48

Title: Owner, founder and operator of Golden Tradition Saffron LLC

Education: Certified clinical herbalist

Hometown: North Plains, Ore.