At that moment, saffron producers throw themselves into the harvest. They pick the flowers early in the morning, and on the same day gently tease the bright red, three-filament stigma from each flower and dry them. It takes about 150,000 flowers to produce a kilogram (2.2 pounds) of saffron.

Little wonder, then, that the precious powder has spawned a trade rife with the kind of deceptions and distortions typical of traffic in gems or illicit drugs: cheap substitutes, diluted shipments, false labeling. Today, a battle over the future of the “gold of cuisine” is underway, as its world is transformed by speculation and market upheaval.

Several scientists and saffron experts have banded together to form a movement they call “Saffronomics.” Their mission is threefold: to improve saffron production and marketing; to determine its purity and place of origin; and to impose order on an unregulated market.

At a global conference of Saffronomics in Almagro, Spain, in September, much of the discussion revolved around the huge volume of fake saffron in circulation. “The fraud problem is immense,” J.S. Heslop-Harrison, a genetics professor at the University of Leicester, said in an interview. “The use of fakes means people do not realize the special taste and aroma of real saffron.”