How to distinguish saffron from fake? How to distinguish saffron from fake

Teach you to distinguish between real and fake saffron.

1. Water soaking method: take a few saffron filaments, put them in hot water, and observe the discoloration of the water. Although the filaments of saffron are red, its active ingredients are yellow after soaking in water, while fake saffron can only be dyed red and remain red after soaking in water.

2. Observation method: The tip of the filament of the genuine product is swollen with a bell mouth.

The authenticity of saffron can be distinguished by soaking, wiping, pressing, and iodine.

1. Water soaking method: After soaking the real saffron in water, you can see that the obvious yellow active ingredients are released from the surrounding of the filament, and the water will eventually be dyed golden yellow.

2. Wipe method: The traces of genuine saffron after wiping it vigorously on white paper are yellow or orange.

3. Pressing: After pressing the genuine saffron, there will be no oil stains on the paper.

4. Iodine wine method: iodine wine does not change blue after dripping into genuine saffron.

Notes:If the traces of the wiping method are not easy to develop, you can dip the filaments in water first and then wipe them.

The method of distinguishing the real from the fake of saffron: the color of the soaking water, the details of the shape, the smell of the aroma, and the paper pressing method.

1. The color of the soaking water.

Although the appearance of real saffron is red, but the soaking water is golden yellow, and the fake must be dyed with red, the soaking water should be red, some people may retort that some red clothes will not fade after soaking in water, but if this is the case, it should be colorless after soaking.

2. Shape details.

Real saffron, thick at one end and thin at the other, and the thick end is irregularly jagged.

3. Smell the aroma.

Authentic saffron has a very strong floral fragrance and is very special, while fake or adulterated goods have a faint or even unsmelling taste.

4. Paper pressing method.

Use a tissue paper to take a small saffron wrap and squeeze it vigorously in the middle, the paper should not leave oil marks, otherwise it will be doped with mineral or vegetable oil.

Morphological characteristics of saffron

Saffron ("The Essence of the Collection"), also known as: Povlan ("Drinking and Drinking"), Sa Fulan ("The Essence of the Collection"). Perennial herb.

The underground bulb is globous and covered with brown membranous scales. Leaves 9 15, white bulbs born, sessile, leaves narrow, long, linear, 15 20 cm long, 2 3 cm wide, leaf margins reversed, finely hairy, base surrounded by 4 5 broad scales.

Flowers apical, centimeter in diameter; perianth 6, obovate, lavender, flower tube 4.6 cm long, tubular; stamens 3, anthers large, arrow-shaped at base; Pistil 3, carpel consonate, ovary subordinate, columella slender, yellow, apex three deeply lobed, protruding from the outside of the flower tube, drooping, dark red, stigma slightly enlarged at apex, with an opening funnel-shaped. Capsule, elongated, with three obtuse ridges, about 3 cm long and about cm wide, reaching the ground when the fruit is ripe. The seeds are numerous, spherical, and leathery.

Flowering period is early to mid-November.

1. Look at the appearance: generally good saffron is dark red and fragrant, and saffron is generally picked with stamens, and there are 3 pistils in the stamens, the shape is slender, and it is this part that is used in medicine; And the bad or fake saffron is generally bright red and smells bad.

2. Identification of soaking in water: There is also a difference between good and bad saffron soaking in water, you can take a small amount of saffron and soak it in water to observe its changes. Generally, after the real saffron is soaked in water, it will appear orange-yellow around the flower, and it will slide down little by little in a straight line, gradually dyeing the water yellow, the color is bright and transparent, and there is no floating object on the water surface, if it is red or other colors, then such saffron is fake.

3. Smell and smell: saffron has a fragrance, and generally real saffron has a very special fragrance, which smells particularly fresh; Fake saffron or bad saffron will feel a bit mixed when smelling because it is mixed with other flowers and leaves

At present, there are a large number of unscrupulous merchants on the market** "fake saffron", and the methods of counterfeiting are diverse, and the common ones are dyed and impersonated with other stamens or fake flowers in real saffron. Here are a few ways to identify saffron. How to distinguish a real saffron from a fake

The easiest and most direct way to identify a real saffron is to carefully observe its appearance, including the color, shape, size, etc. of the saffron. It is best to put the saffron on a white piece of paper and spread it out to take a closer look. We have to know that the real saffron is long, dark red, oil-free and shiny, and it is brittle and easy to break after drying.

If the saffron clumps together, then it is most likely mixed with water. Even if some of the saffron is broken, each one is trumpet-shaped, and we can put the saffron under a magnifying glass to observe it so that it can be seen at a glance what shape it is. Fake saffron is generally light red in color and has a pronounced luster on the surface.

Smell the smell of saffron genuine has a strong floral fragrance, although the fragrance is strong but not pungent. Generally, it is difficult to reach this concentration in the fragrance of fakes, most of them are faint, and some cannot be smelled. If you don't know anything about saffron when you buy it, you can go to a professional pharmacy to smell it.

Saffron is a drug that we can soak in water when identifying. True saffron is mainly composed of stamens, which do not break immediately when soaked in water, and the water is light yellow. Fakes are usually made up of other petals or doping, and when soaked in water, the petals will break quickly, fade faster, and the water will turn red or orange.

When identifying saffron with acupressure, you can also use a tissue to take a small amount of saffron wrap and squeeze it in the middle, pay attention to the paper if it is clean and not stained with dust and other pollutants, otherwise it will affect the results of identification. The genuine saffron will not leave any stains or other impurities after extrusion. However, if there are obvious stains on the paper, it is generally fake.

Powder identification. It is understood that the powder of saffron is generally orange-red, and the color of the powder is likely to change due to the doping of other substances, and the general false saffron is mostly red.

Notes:

When buying saffron, it is best to go to a regular pharmacy to buy it, which is more secure. References

1 real saffron: real saffron is made of purple-blue saffron stamens, take a sample and dip it in water a little, the water is dyed golden yellow and gradually downward, it will not be broken immediately in the water, and the water is bright light yellow, the oil-free floaters on the water surface are observed with a magnifying glass, one end of the genuine product is expanded into a trumpet, and there are cracks on one side.

Fake saffron: fakes are the stamens of other flowers or even radishes cut into very fine shreds, and then dyed, after soaking in water, radishes will be broken, dyed will be very judged to touch the mountain and fade quickly, digging and water will turn red or orange yellow and have oily floats, adulterated varieties have saffron stamens, daylily dyeing, maize flower columns, stigmas, safflower, lotus whiskers, etc.

2. True saffron: The red color of saffron is not the color of dyeing, press hard with facial paper, and there will be no color residue on the paper.

Fake saffron: The color of fake saffron is dyed later, and a lot of pigment is on the surface of the material, and the pigment will fall off after pressing hard, and there will be red residue on the paper.

3 True saffron: Put the saffron on a white paper, spread it out and observe carefully, the real saffron is the stamen of the flower, therefore, each is trumpet-shaped, and some of them are broken.

Fake saffron: Fake saffron is mostly dyed with edible glue, which is not trumpet-shaped, and is mostly irregular strips or cylindrical.

4 True saffron: Remove a small piece of saffron, put it on a glass plate, add a drop of dilute sulfuric acid, and the real saffron will appear dark blue around the flower, and then slowly turn to purple, and then turn reddish-brown.

Fake noisy saffron: Because it contains pigment, dropwise addition of chemical test liquid will directly lead to the dissolution of pigment, and the reddish phenomenon will appear directly.