A Kashmiri woman collects saffron flowers in a field in Pampore, south of Srinagar, in Jammu and Kashmir yesterday. Kashmir is the only place in India, and one of the few places in the world where saffron grows. Saffron has been grown in Kashmir since the Mughal period. The saffron crop is sown on an estimated 17,000 hectares of land in Kashmir in the months of May and June and the flowers are harvested at the onset of autumn. It takes some 170,000 flowers to get 1kg of the precious spice.