In 1919, Jesus Navarro Joker, from a very humble family, went to ask Manolica Alberola for a loan to sell saffron in Spain. And Manolito lent him the money. This is how his small business started.
The success of trade with India was so great that, even before the Civil War, the Spanish market began to be left out of supply. This is how the food coloring is born, a seasoning that was called artificial: a substitute for saffron, made from tartaric acid. It colors 10 times more and is much cheaper, but tasteless. As the seasoning increases, the saffron disappears from the pieces of paper. And this is how Alicante got to grow in that market.
