Kashmiri saffron is sold under three trade names: Mongra, Lacha and Guchhi. They are not brands and not marketing tiers. They describe, quite literally, which part of the flower is in the pack and how it was handled after drying. Once you can picture the flower, the grades explain themselves, and so do their prices.
Start with the flower
Inside every saffron crocus are three red stigmas, each a few centimetres long. The stigma is the business end: it holds nearly all the crocin that colours, the picrocrocin that flavours and the precursor of the safranal that perfumes. Each stigma is attached to a pale stalk called the style, which runs yellow to white and carries very little of any of those compounds. Every grade of saffron on earth is some ratio of red stigma to pale style, and Kashmiri grading is simply the honest naming of that ratio.
Mongra: the tips alone
Mongra is the separated deep red tip of the stigma with the style removed entirely. Nothing pale goes into the pack. It is the highest grade because every milligram you pay for is the part of the flower that actually does something in food, which is why Mongra shows the strongest lab values gram for gram and why a pinch goes furthest. Visually it is unmistakable: short, thick, dark crimson threads with the flared trumpet end, and no yellow anywhere.
Because separating tips is extra hand work and discards weight the grower could otherwise sell, Mongra costs the most per gram. Whether it is the best value depends on arithmetic, not romance: you are paying only for potency. This is the grade we sell as our standard saffron, as a 2 gram vial and a 5 gram tin.
Lacha: the whole stigma
Lacha is the stigma with some of the style still attached, dried as it came from the flower. The threads are longer, and each one fades from crimson at the head through orange to a pale tail. That tail is not a defect and not an adulterant; it is the flower’s own anatomy. But it is weight that adds little colour or flavour, so Lacha tests lower than Mongra per gram and is priced accordingly.
Lacha has real virtues. The intact thread is the easiest form in which to recognise genuine saffron, because the natural red to yellow gradient is difficult to fake convincingly with dye, which colours a thread evenly. Some buyers prefer it for exactly that reason, and for presentation dishes where long elegant threads matter.
Guchhi: the tied bunch
Guchhi means a small bunch: whole threads, style and all, tied together as they were gathered. It is the most traditional form, the way saffron moved through Kashmiri markets for generations, and the least processed. Because the full style is included, it carries the lowest proportion of red stigma per gram and therefore the gentlest price. For household cooking where the saffron will be steeped anyway, honest Guchhi from a good harvest is perfectly respectable; you simply use a few more threads.
The grades in one view
| Grade | What is in the pack | Appearance | Relative strength |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mongra | Separated stigma tips only | Short, thick, uniformly deep crimson | Highest per gram |
| Lacha | Stigma with part of the style | Long threads fading red to yellow | Middle |
| Guchhi | Whole threads, bunched and tied | Full length threads with pale tails | Gentlest per gram |
What the grade names do not tell you
A grade describes a cut, not a quality guarantee. Mongra from a poor harvest, dried badly or stored for years, can test worse than fresh Lacha. The grade tells you the ratio of stigma to style; only a laboratory measurement tells you how potent that stigma actually is. This is why every Karewa batch, whatever its grade, is tested for crocin, safranal and picrocrocin before sale, and why the three values are explained here and printed against every batch report. When you compare our grades, you can compare their measured numbers rather than our adjectives.
How the Kashmiri names map to Iranian ones
If you have shopped saffron online you will have met another set of names: Negin, Sargol, Pushal, Bunch. Those are the Iranian trade grades, and they describe the same anatomy with different words. Sargol, meaning the top of the flower, is the Iranian counterpart of Mongra: separated red tips only. Negin and Super Negin are premium long cut threads, all red, selected for length and thickness. Pushal corresponds roughly to Lacha, red stigma with some style attached, and Bunch corresponds to Guchhi, whole threads tied together. Knowing the mapping protects you from a common sales trick, where an unfamiliar foreign grade name is presented as something rarer and finer than the familiar one. It also lets you compare like with like: Mongra against Sargol or Negin, Lacha against Pushal, never Mongra against Bunch.
The grade names on either side say nothing about where the saffron grew. Sargol relabelled as Mongra is still Iranian saffron, and the difference between the origins is a separate question we cover honestly in Kashmiri vs Iranian saffron.
Which grade should you buy?
For most kitchens, Mongra. Its higher price per gram is offset by needing fewer threads per dish, the lab values are the strongest, and a 2 gram vial lasts a household months of biryanis, kheers and saffron milk. Choose Lacha if you value the long intact thread, for presentation or for the reassurance of the natural gradient. Choose Guchhi for tradition and volume cooking on a budget. Whichever you pick, steep it properly; how much to use, dish by dish, is covered in our dosage guide.
A note on quantities and packs
Whatever the grade, buy in quantities you will finish while the saffron is at its best. Aroma fades before colour does, so a household is better served by a 2 gram vial replaced yearly than a 10 gram tin admired for five. Traditional Indian trade still quotes the tola, about 11.66 grams, and we can supply by the tola or the kilogram for kitchens and retailers through the bulk and corporate page. Every pack, retail or trade, is filled from one batch and carries that batch’s code, so the grade on the label is always attached to a measured, published test.
Frequently asked questions
Is Mongra always better than Lacha?
Per gram, Mongra from the same harvest will always be stronger, because it contains only stigma tips. But grade describes the cut, not the harvest: fresh, well dried Lacha can outperform old or badly handled Mongra. Compare lab values, not just names.
Are the yellow parts in Lacha and Guchhi adulteration?
No. The pale portion is the style, the flower’s own stalk, present because those grades keep more of the intact thread. Adulteration is foreign material such as dyed safflower or corn silk. A natural red to yellow fade within a single thread is actually a reassuring sign.
Why does Mongra cost more per gram?
Two reasons: separating the tips is additional hand work, and removing the style discards sellable weight. You pay a higher price for a gram that is entirely the potent part of the flower, which is also why you use less of it per dish.
Do the ISO 3632 categories map to Mongra, Lacha and Guchhi?
Not directly. Mongra, Lacha and Guchhi are Kashmiri trade descriptions of the cut, while ISO 3632 categories are laboratory measurements of strength. A batch of any grade is assigned its ISO category by its measured crocin, picrocrocin and safranal values.