SKILLMAN, N.J. — On a small farm just outside Princeton, rows of delicate purple flowers are producing something rarely associated with New Jersey agriculture: saffron.
Ashwin and Smita Jaju and their family are behind Princeton Blooms, a specialty flower farm in Skillman where they are cultivating saffron and inviting visitors to experience firsthand how one of the world’s most prized spices makes the journey from flower to kitchen.
The project is an unlikely second act for the couple. Ashwin is a textile engineer and Smita an accountant. Neither came from a professional farming background. Their move into agriculture grew instead from a shared interest in flowers, curiosity about farming and a desire to build something together as a family.
For the Indian American family, saffron also carries a cultural connection. The spice has long occupied a special place in Indian cooking and tradition, particularly in Kashmir, a region internationally associated with saffron cultivation.
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Princeton Blooms began about two years ago as a family hobby. What started modestly has developed into a specialty farming venture focused on New Jersey-grown saffron and seasonal experiences that allow the public to participate in the harvest.
Learning to grow a precious crop
Growing saffron in New Jersey has required experimentation and patience.
The family’s first large-scale season came in 2025, bringing what they describe as a mix of excitement, uncertainty and learning. They watched the first shoots emerge, followed the flowers through their short growing cycle and eventually collected their inaugural harvest.
In 2026, Princeton Blooms expanded to a second location and planted saffron on a larger scale.
But the value of saffron becomes especially clear when the flowers are harvested.
Each saffron flower produces only three red stigmas, the threadlike portions that are collected and processed into the spice. Unlike crops that can be harvested largely by machinery, saffron production remains intensely hands-on.
That labor-intensive process is at the center of Princeton Blooms’ Saffron Picking Experience.
During the brief fall flowering season, visitors can walk through the blooming fields, pick saffron flowers and carefully separate the three red stigmas from each blossom. Guests then take home the saffron they harvested themselves.
For someone accustomed to seeing saffron only in a tiny container at a grocery store, the experience offers a dramatically different perspective.
Visitors can see exactly how many individual flowers and how much delicate work are required to produce even a small quantity of the spice. The farm also sees the program as a way to introduce neighbors to Indian agricultural and culinary traditions.
More than a farm visit
The Jaju family say the larger goal is not simply to produce saffron.
Princeton Blooms wants visitors to understand where food comes from and to experience agriculture personally — from seeing a living saffron flower to harvesting and processing it with their own hands.
The timing makes the experience particularly unusual. Saffron’s flowering period is short, creating only a limited window for visitors to see the fields at their peak.
For the 2026 season, Princeton Blooms plans its picking experience for the last weekend of October and the first week of November, when blooms are expected to be at their height. Visits are available by reservation.
The farm plans to continue expanding its saffron cultivation while adding other specialty flowers and agricultural experiences in the years ahead.
For now, however, the purple flowers growing in Central Jersey tell a larger story — of an Indian American family turning curiosity into agriculture, bringing a centuries-old crop into unfamiliar soil and giving New Jersey visitors a chance to discover just how much work can be hidden inside a few strands of saffron.