Krokos
Encyclopedia
Kozani
Kozani is a city in northern Greece, capital of Kozani regional unit and of West Macedonia region. It is located in the western part of Macedonia, in the northern part of the Aliakmonas river valley...
. It was the seat of the municipality of Elimeia
Elimeia
Elimeia is a former municipality in Kozani peripheral unit, West Macedonia, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Kozani, of which it is a municipal unit. The population is 6,429 . The seat of the municipality was in Krokos...
. Krokos has a modern telecommunications infrastructure, including broadband internet availability by means of ADSL.
Krokos Kozanis (Saffron)
Krokos is renowned in Greece and abroad for the production of the Greek Macedonian SaffronSaffron
Saffron is a spice derived from the flower of Crocus sativus, commonly known as the saffron crocus. Crocus is a genus in the family Iridaceae. Each saffron crocus grows to and bears up to four flowers, each with three vivid crimson stigmas, which are each the distal end of a carpel...
, which is one of the world's most intense and valuable varieties.
Although the ancient Minoan
Minoan civilization
The Minoan civilization was a Bronze Age civilization that arose on the island of Crete and flourished from approximately the 27th century BC to the 15th century BC. It was rediscovered at the beginning of the 20th century through the work of the British archaeologist Arthur Evans...
s were known to cultivate saffron during Late Bronze Age Crete, the cultivation of the plant disappeared from Greece until about 300 years ago, when Greek Macedonian
Macedonia (Greece)
Macedonia is a geographical and historical region of Greece in Southern Europe. Macedonia is the largest and second most populous Greek region...
traders brought the plant from Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
to the region of Kozani
Kozani
Kozani is a city in northern Greece, capital of Kozani regional unit and of West Macedonia region. It is located in the western part of Macedonia, in the northern part of the Aliakmonas river valley...
. The town of Krokos is the base of the Cooperative of Saffron Producers of Kozani, a cooperative that counts 2000 members spread between 40 small villages.
Annual production, depending on weather conditions, ranges from 6 to 12 tons of pure red saffron each year. Much of this production is certified organic. All of it is Protected Designation of Origin
Protected designation of origin
Protected Geographical Status is a legal framework defined in European Union law to protect the names of regional foods. Protected Designation of Origin , Protected Geographical Indication and Traditional Speciality Guaranteed are distinct regimes of geographical indications within the framework...
(PDO); no other region of Greece can produce Greek Red Saffron. It is also extremely high-quality: Greek Red Saffron, as provided by the Kozani Cooperative, has a guaranteed coloring strength of 230.