Gabriela Ilieva grows the "flower from heaven" in the Vratsa Balkan

Every life story has drama in it - as if a director lays out the steps for us to follow, but most often after the first instructions we take the helm ourselves. That is why it is not unusual for serious piano lessons at music school to take you one day to the foot of the mountain, where you devote yourself to caring for the cultivation of saffron crocus.

This is actually the story of Gabriela Ilieva from Vratsa, who at the age of five, at the suggestion of her mother, began playing the piano, but in the ninth grade, after reading a textbook on inorganic chemistry, decided to study to be a laboratory assistant at the chemical technical school. Her student experience at the University of Chemical Technology and Metallurgy lasted only a year, because she could not combine lectures and work to support herself. Later she went to the UK where there she first took care of young children, then became a cleaner and finally, together with a friend, started her own business selling second-hand furniture intended for people with spinal problems. But since she defines herself as a curious person who likes to experiment, she decided to do something meaningful and feel at home.

"In 2016, I returned from England after spending six years there and in 2019 – shortly after I met my husband, we decided to do something together,“ Gabriela Ilieva recalls. „I wanted it to be something related to agriculture because we have land, but I wanted something interesting, exotic and challenging. That's how I came across saffron. We bought 100 kg of bulbs from producer Hasan Tahirov, because he also offered to buy the produce and we sowed them in the yard, without having any idea what would happen."

The result turned out to be surprisingly good for novice producers, who learned with the first harvest that everything is done by hand, that saffron blooms from mid-October to mid-November, that it is picked every day at sunrise, that about 150 flowers are needed for one gram of product, as well as many other useful things - for example, that the flowers can be used in confectionery. That is how the saffron crocus jam was born, but currently only as a homemade product, since many permits are needed for commercial production.

Meanwhile, Gabriela Ilieva registered as an agricultural producer and found herself facing various obstacles.

"It turned out that Hasan Tahirov was not buying the saffron and I found myself in the situation of looking for a market myself," she told journalist Zornitsa Garkova from the Hristo Botev program of the Bulgarian National Radio. "This was another obstacle, because in our country people hardly know the spice and in order to sell such a high-quality product, you have to explain what it is and what it is used for. In addition, when they hear the price, they don't want to buy it, because it is expensive for them. Indeed, there is cheaper saffron in the stores, but it is of low quality."

Gabriela Ilieva began going around the shops in Vratsa and offering her saffron. Of the three organic specialized shops, only one agreed to take the product only for a short time, as it soon found a cheaper option. She later agreed to leave the saffron on consignment in another shop and also sold it to friends and acquaintances. Her hope for a more serious market is in the Saffron Producers Association, which would be able to export the product abroad.

Last autumn, Gabriela Ilieva was hit by a real disaster that destroyed her harvest. A water pipe burst under the house. The workers sent in dug up the property, left the water flowing for a whole month, flooding everything around and the bulbs disappeared. Despite this, Gabriela did not give up. But what is the legal regulation regarding saffron producers in this country?

"There are no legal provisions that classify it as saffron," Gabriela Ilieva says. "I am registered as a farmer of an essential oil crop. Currently, our association is working hard on the issue as we want the state to look at us with a different eye and saffron to become a specific separate crop as it is the most expensive and most valuable spice in the world. So, we are fighting for something in which other countries are much ahead of us in terms of legislation and support. No one supports us with anything. However, research shows that there is a shortage of saffron globally."

Interest in saffron production in Bulgaria is growing

Text: Diana Tsankova (An interview by Zornitsa Garkova from the "Hristo Botev" program of the Bulgarian National Radio was used)