On a hectare of land and without expecting it, Paola Ahmada achieved the southernmost saffron production in the world in Chubut, and, wh

25 kilometers from Trevelin, in the province of Chubut, a small farm stands out year after year for its striking violet flowers, which have little to do with the already famous tulips that are cultivated in the area. Its distinctive feature is its red pistils. Those are nothing other than the famous and coveted saffron, which in that locality has become the most southern in the world. Behind this achievement is chef Paola Ahmada, who, along with her husband, bet on revaluing the scarce 13 hectares they inherited from their family. “I studied safety and hygiene and then gastronomy with Gato Dumas. My husband is an engineer. We have no connection with botany or agronomy. We simply wanted to give value to this land. In fact, we almost sold it because we thought it was unproductive. We couldn’t figure it out until we saw the saffron bloom,” Ahmada told Bichos de Campo, who today runs the enterprise Saffron Route 17. The relationship of gastronomy with this spice was something she ...