I love saffron! Not because of its taste (which I kind-of hate) or other properties (like staining, which I definitely hate, or security-theatre-triggering, but more about that below), but mostly due to the rituals around it, and because a friend of mine once got booted off a TV cooking show as a result of using it.

So, visiting the famous (and horrible, but thank you!) Spice Market in Istanbul recently, I just could not resist learning everything I could about saffron (mostly: how to spot the fake stuff -- spoiler: the paint sinks in hot water), plus, of course, taking home some of the real stuff for said friend.

This, on an unplanned detour through Germany on my way back, got me into a bit of trouble. Apparently, the post-9/11 scanners that determine whether your hand-luggage contains anything troublesome, have some of their own issues with saffron...