Brits are deeply puzzled as to why the luminous yellow-orange spice is so pricey. Type "Why is so expensive" into google.co.uk and top is: "why is saffron so expensive?" After that, it's insurance, Photoshop, champagne and Warhammer that users seem to fret about.

Adobe Photoshop is a photo-editing software and the latest version, CS6, retails for about £449, which is rather a lot if all you want to do is remove red-eye. Warhammer is a part-hobby, part-gaming fantasy battle where players constantly grouch about the cost of individual dark elves, blood knights and dire wolves.

But it's saffron, made from the stigmas of crocuses, which sparks most concern. A Schwartz jar containing just 0.4g retails for £4.16 in Sainsbury's; a kilo will set you back £10,400.

The reason? It takes about two football pitches of crocuses to glean a kilo, with each stigma collected by hand.