On my last trip to Madrid I stopped at the duty free shop in T1 to buy 2 grams of saffron. I didn't look too close as it was an after thought, but imagine my surprise when I got home and discovered my saffron was from Iran not Spain!

It seems to be decent, even better than my last stuff from Spain, with good aroma and color. I do find it a bit ironic that they are selling the Iranian stuff in the terminal where all the flights go to the U.S.

I have friends from Iran ( living in London and Madrid ) but they always told me that Iranian Saffron was the best . I used to be able to buy it in a small ethnic supermarket in London . Also there are a couple of shops ( one behind Gran Vía ) that sells Iranian caviar and cured salmon etc... . I met a guy a few years ago who is Iranian but lives in Sweden .. He was visiting Madrid . A group of us went to a restaurant called Teherán in calle Ayala 140 .... A bit pricey but very good and of course this guy ordered everything in Farsi ! www.teheranrestaurante.com

trade has no political views....
the world is bigger for trade many things do not come from the usual places anymore
::)

That IS surprising, Mongo!! Im sure they can sell it for a fraction of Spanish grown saffron. That's a shame.

Also be aware for "Fake Spanish Saffron"!

Saludos, MadridMan

My surprise was not in the quality, (Iran and India have saffron to rival the quality of Spanish saffron), but in the irony of buying it in the terminal going to the US. There is a US embargo against the importation of Iranian goods, so technically yes, trade does have political views.

I'm not worried though, what with all the Cuban cigars...

That's interesting Mongo ... You would've thought that the US authorities would have informed airports that if you have a boarding card with a US destination you cannot buy things like Iranian saffron or Cuban cigars . I have US friends who get the cigars via Canada .. Apparently Canada has no restrictions on goods from Cuba . I did business with Iran in finance .. legally .. . There's always opportunities to bypass the US restrictions ( legally in Europe ) .

The same thing happens with oil companies, not allowed to trade in certain middle eastern countries, so they go through Cyprus.

That's what we used to do , Joe .. use a 3rd party .. but the Dollars have to clear into a US bank . I had many discussions with Iranian banks when they told us that we should use a code and not their name as the beneficiary . We were not happy with that at all and took advice from people like the FSA . Anyway , on a tangent , but still talking about foreign produce ... I have a tin of 12 Uvas de Suerte in the fridge That are good until middle of 2012 so will celebrate the Spanish new year ( 1 hour ahead of the UK ) .