Crocin is the chemical ingredient primarily responsible for the color of saffron. The main coloring property of saffron comes from crocetin. Many investigations revealed that 94 percent of total crocetin of saffron is present in the form of glycosides compounds in crocetin and the remaining 6 percent is in the form of free crocetin.

The coloring power of saffron comes from the above-mentioned compounds which are measurable by different methods, for instance, spectrophotometry, high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and thin layer chromatography (TLC).