The yolk originates from Bronze Age Greece where it was first cultivated, according to a study
Yolk, saffron or saffron, the most expensive spice in the world, appeared, was domesticated and cultivated for the first time in the region of Greece during the Bronze Age.
This is the conclusion of a new German scientific study, which gives a definitive answer to the question of where it derives the origin of the crocus plant, as to date many countries have claimed it.
The Safran is extracted from the flowers of the crocus plant (Crocus sativus), which has been cultivated for thousands of years in the Mediterranean region, from where it has spread to many other places, without being sure where and exactly where its cultivation began. Today yolk has a variety of uses, from cooking and perfumes to dyes. From about 15,000 to 16,000 crocus flowers, which take 370 to 470 to gather, produce just one pound of yolk worth $ 1,300 to $ 10,000.
The researchers, led by Ludwig Mann of the Technical University of Dresden, who published the publication in the publication of plant science “Frontiers in Plant Science”, analyzed all available data and concluded that they converge in the same area. “Both ancient works of art and genetics show Bronze Age Greece, around 1,700 BC. “or even earlier, as the origin of the saffron description,” Mann said.
The genus Crocus, which includes about 250 wild plant species, is present from Southern and Central Europe and North Africa to Western China. The first known use of wild yolk by humans was as a pigment for cave paintings, about 50,000 years ago in present-day Iraq. Ancient Sumerian, Assyrian, and Babylonian texts also describe the use of wild yolk for medicine and dye.
The researchers pointed out that the origin of saffron could not be easily determined, because the plant is difficult to study genetically, as it has three – instead of the usual two – copies of each chromosome, as well as a very large gene containing a higher percentage of repeat DNA, difficult to sequence . of.
According to the study, probably the oldest depicted in the world of cultivated crocus is from the Minoan civilization the mural “Crocodile” about 1,600 BC Crocus flowers are also depicted on Bronze Age ceramics and fabrics in Greece, while the ancient Linear B script also has an ideogram for the crocus. Tombs in Egypt of the 15th and 16th century BC. show ambassadors from Crete bringing saffron dyed fabrics.
Genetic studies from 2019 showed that the plant C.cartwrightianus, the closest wild relative of the cultivated saffron, has been found only in mainland Greece, which is a strong indication that the original description of the plant occurred here. Researchers estimate that modern saffron saffron originated naturally, derived either from the related wild plant C.cartwrightianus or from hybrids between the latter and some other species of saffron. Then the yolk was systematically utilized by the Greeks of the Bronze Age thanks to its superior properties as a spice.
According to drone Tony Haytkham, head of the Plant Genomics Team at Dresden Technical University, “All over the world today, all saffron yolks are essentially clones that go back to the appearance of saffron in ancient Greece. “Although everyone shares the same gene, saffron can have different options with each region.”
Source: Athenian / Macedonian News Agency
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