Full Flower Moon Enfleurage

"Summer breeze, makes me feel fine, blowing through the jasmine in my mind."

~ Seals & Crofts

The advent of the full flower moon early this morning in Taurus-Scorpio seems like an auspicious time to delve deep into some sensual flower magic, thus I have written this new post about an ancient process called Enfleurage. After all, dedicated acts of beauty are very Taurean and invite us to ground into our bodies and connect with the plant deities.

The French word Enfleurage translates as "in flowering", referring to a form of capturing scent (extraction) dating back to ancient Egypt, later re-introduced in the hillside town of Grasse, France.

I have created an entire lesson in the Art of Botanical Perfume devoted to this topic as it is one of my very favorite processes that I have been using for almost two decades now. The very laborious method of placing live botanicals on a layer of fat that has been coated onto glass is mastered by repetition and paying attention. Results achieved by one person will not always be the same for another, due to the "terrior" of where we and the plants reside.

TERMINOLOGY

Here is some of the terminology to keep in mind as we go through this process:

• Enfleurage: French word meaning "in flowering"
• Fat: The original fat was lard or tallow, these days coconut oil is most popular amongst those who prefer to avoid animal products and "other" fragrances in their final product.
• Chasis: Stackable wood frames with glass, used in France.
• Terrior: A French term referring to the environmental factors that influence the flavors and scent of a plant. The word is most often used in wine.
• Prima materia, our plant matter, the term comes out of Alchemy, referring to the first matter
• Charge: A term referencing each time you add more flowers, or plant matter to your base. With Enfleurage your base is a "fat", if we are making an infusion the base is an "oil", in the case of a tincture the base is a high proof alcohol.
• Pomade: the result of the enfleurage process, the scented fat.
• Extract/Extrait: The final result of the enfleurage product, also called an absolute.

LET'S BEGIN

To begin this long term processes, consider your "prima materia", the plant matter you are choosing to work with. If they are fresh flowers, make sure you have the ability to access enough flowers for a good length of time. Each flower is a bit different, a good rule of thumb is to repeat the charge at least eight times, the more the better.

In California when I had access to my ten potted jasmine plants I started the process in May which lasted until October. I was also creating tinctures and infusions at the same time since I had access to such a large quantity of flowers.

Here in Santa Fe, since I don't have a garden yet, for my gardenia enfleurage I use flowers that my mom sends from California. The 2019 gardenia enfleurage was charged about eight times.

Besides our fragrant flowers, the tools and raw materials necessary for enfleurage are easy to obtain and most likely in your possession. I use shallow glass Pyrex pans.

Choosing your fat?

Animal fat was the original ideal medium for capturing odor. For those of us working in a holistic paradigm a non-animal fat is preferred but more of a challenge to find. Experimentation will lead you to the perfect fat that works best for you. Unscented coconut oil is the most popular fat currently used and I do highly recommend it, however, it can be a challenge in warmer climates.

In the nineties when I first started experimenting with enfleurage I used an organic, virgin coconut oil, which did not work in Southern California where temperatures in Spring and Summer can easily reach 90 to 100. Thus I switched to using a mixture of beeswax and jojoba oil. Here in Santa Fe however, the coconut oil works well.

Instructions for Simple Home Enfleurage

• Step 1: Coat your glass, a lasagna glass pyrex dish works well, with an unscented fat, ideally in a solid state.
• Step 2: Gather your flowers in the early morning after the dew has dried but before the heat of the day
• Step 3: Gently place the flowers on the fat.
• Step 4: Cover the dish with a clothe to preserve the aromatic molecules.
• Step 5: Set the dish in a cool locations, ideally in the dark.
• Step 6: Remove the spent flowers and begin again.

The replacing of flowers will vary and is a bit like cooking, pay attention to the scent and decided if it would be better to replace a few times a day, every morning or after two to three days.

It's really important to look for mold and at the first sign carefully remove it from your fact and pay close attention to re-occurring signs. If mold becomes a constant challenge then its possible your batch may be ruined and require you to begin once more. Avoid mold by avoiding water, water is your enemy in the enfleurage process.

• Step 7: When the flowering period has ended, check to see how fragrant the result is. If it is weak then consider saving it until next year or layering a different flower over the top.

Last Spring I decided to do a Lilac enfleurage using flowers growing around Santa Fe. Some of the lilacs were foraged, while others were from gardens where I was granted access. Since the flowers of our local lilacs are so tiny, I found the process excruciatingly painful due to the amount of time it took to place each flower on the fat. I considered just adding the flowering stocks to the fact, without separating out each flower, but then I would also get the green scent of the stem and leaves woven into the scent.

By the end of the lilac enfleurage process I found the scent too weak and ended up using the fat bed for my 2019 gardenia enfleurage.

FILTRATION / EXTRACTION

• Step 8: Getting back the to process, once you are happy with the scent of your fat, whether it is from one flower or multiple,  scrape the pomade into a glass jar, see photo above. This pomade can now be used as your final product, whether is is a solid perfume or a component to something else.

In a traditional enfleurage, the next step is to pour a high proof alcohol over your fat and store the jar in a cool, dark place, shaking every few days or so for a period of a year or more.  Next step separate out the scented alcohol from the fat by filtration. This can be done with a traditional fine mesh sieve or cheesecloth, followed by a coffee filter.

• Step 9: Next, you have two options:

1. If you have a small distillation apparatus, you can distill "off" the alcohol.
2. If not the old school method is to pour the scented alcohol into a new jar, cover with a piece of cheesecloth and then slowly evaporate off the alcohol.

With both these processes the final result is a scented extract/extrait, also called an absolute.

EXPERIMENT

I've laid out a context for you to begin experimenting, the more you practive the more you will tune into the plant material and find your own way. Keep in mind there is no right or wrong, most important thing is the move forward, if you fail, learn and do it again.

As I mentioned in the beginning of this post, the old processes of perfume making, like enfleurage, are labor intensive and not for everyone. After working with this process for so many years I continue to be surprised and enchanted. The act of harnessing the ephemeral, what we can call the soul of a flower, into a solid form is truly magical!

"Ah, these jasmines, these white jasmines!..."

~ Rabindranath Tagore

All photo and text ©RoxanaVilla

Gardenia Pomade 2019

As I begin writing this post it's Friday, the day attributed to Venus, the Goddess of Love, quite fitting for the euphoric fragrance of Gardenias.

The violet jars that I had ordered for the pomade arrived, thus, today I began scooping the 2019 Gardenia pomade of the enfleurage process, into the glass containers, causing a lovely white floral cloud to hang in the air.

This particular pomade is special because it was first originally the bed for my lilac enfleurage, see photo above. Since the scent of that process came out so subtle I decided to use the existing oil bed for the gardenias.

Although the lilac scent is not noticeably present to the nose, there is an imprint of all those flowers and love that has carried over to the gardenias. For those of you who feel energy, let me know if you sense it.

The process of infusing plants, mostly flowers, into a cold fat is called “enfleurage”, it is a technique made popular in the Southern region of France in the late 1800’s. As I share in the Art of Botanical Perfume course, the origin of this very laborious ritual resides in Egypt, along with alchemy. I learned about this cold fat extraction technique in the 90’s within a yahoo group of botanical perfumers. We were all experimenting and sharing our results with each other.

The gentle coaxing, liberating and harnessing the exquisite exhalation of plants takes patience and a heck of a lotta love. In Los Angeles I worked with potted jasmine sambacs, gardenias and plumerias as well as wild violets and jasmine grandi from my moms garden. Until we get more settled here in Santa Fe, my mom has been lovingly tending to my potted babies, as well as infusing & tincturing. She also sends me plants by mail to work with. Enfleurage is definitely a labor of love & devotion, perfect for an obsessive personality and lover of nature.

The gardenia pomade, is heavenly as a solid perfume or decadent face oil on its own, or you can mix it into jojoba oil to extend it. Keep in mind that the fragrance is subtle, and there are some that may not be able to perceive much.

If gardenia isn’t your thing, consider picking one up as a gift for upcoming mothers day, etc. Since the heavenly pomade is protected from light and oxidation in the special violet glass it, the scent will be preserved for when you need it most. The high quality violet glass jars offer optimal protection against the harmful effects of light and increases the shelf life to prolong potency.

I only have a limited supply of this edition, which will be offered to newsletter subscribers first.

If you would like to learn how to make fragrance from plants including the enfleurage process sign up for the Art of Botanical Perfume online course here.

✨GARDENIA✨

I did it, and feeling extremely proud and grateful, a true to flower gardenia extraction! This elixir is like no other I have ever smelled, from the Tiara of Tahiti to Columbia. The extract is so pure and true, nothing compares but the white floral soul of Gardenia herself.

Since the extraction also produced a lovely fragrant alcohol I will likely combine the two into a pure plant solifleur, or expand on it to produce a more complex fragrance. #StayTuned

Want to smell it? I invite you to come to my lab in Santa Fe, and experience the rare and true beauty of authentic botanical perfume. Want to learn how I did it, come study with me, begin by signing up for the online class and then we can chat about attending the retreat in November where I will show the students the entire process.

White Flower Season

The white flower season begins here in the garden of pure fumes with gardenia, then gradually overlaps with jasmine sambac which overlaps with plumeria.  I was lucky to get extra gardenias from my mothers plant which is much larger and more abundant than mine.

The gardenias are now done but we are in the thick of jasmine sambac bloom time just as the plumerias are starting up.

Currently I have lots of different potions brewing, but the most amazing is a toss up between the gardenia enfleurage and the jasmine enfleurage which was layered over a violet enfleurage.

Do you think amethysts can be the souls of good violets?

The title for todays post Anne of Green Gables. The violets are coming up in quite a bounty due to our rain fall. This year, instead of a tincture I am placing the delightful little flowers on a bed of botanical fat to infuse their intoxicating odor. The process is called enfleurage, we know it originating in France but its possible that it goes as far back as Egypt.

By the way, as I write this, I have the most recent crop sitting here next to me and I must say it is a glorious little posy to be inhaling.

Summer to Autumn

Two days ago it was warm and I was harvesting jasmine flowers for the ongoing enfleurage. Monday night the weather suddenly changed – as if day light savings time were a window that was abruptly opened. All of a sudden we've got substantially cooler weather, so cool that my little jasmine sambac flowers this morning were barely opened, as if they weren't too sure opening themselves up was such a good idea.

I don't blame them. I wore a wool sweater and thick scarf to the perfumery today. Thus, I feel pretty confident stating that the jasmine cycle more than likely has come to a close. Nest up: violets!

White Flower Season!

The white flower season has arrived! It appeared like a rough start for the Jasmine sambacs but not for the Gardenias. Here at the house of beautiful smells I have a jasmine sambac tincture and a gardenia enfleurage in tandem, eventually I will have a jasmine sambac enfleurage as well but its too early in the season. Although in all honesty, the weather pattern is completely off and thus so is the flowering pattern of the sambacs.

For those of you who are subscribers of my newsletter you'll find a little treat of the 2014 gardenia enfleurage from last year. Little tubs are also available at the fan funding here. Keep in mind that the 2014 edition is very subtle, the fat was only charged with flowers three times. The 2015 edition should have a much stronger presence since we began the process earlier in the season.

Day and Night Blooms

Of late my days and nights begin and end with jasmine flowers. In the evening, usually just before bed, earlier if I remember, I turn on all the lights that will illuminate the front side of the house where all the clay pots of the jasmine sambac plants are and I slowly begin picking. Quite often I will encounter spiders and their webs, sometimes I hear rustling under the oaks where they have spread a nice carpet of leaves to hear the footsteps of the four leggeds. In those instances I stomp my feet so that whatever is over just yonder knows that I am about. I'm not too concerned about raccoons or coyotes, but skunks I'd rather not have an encounter with.

One of my regular daily friends is this praying mantis pictured above. I've seen her grow from a little babe into this young adult. In the Autumn she'll find a male to mate with and bite his head off.

I have yet to see what insect pollinates the jasmine flowers. Honey bees and hummingbirds buzz around the plants but the pollinator of these intoxicants is probably a nocturnal being like a moth.

In the morning one of the first things I do is go out and check for newly opened blossoms or any I missed from the night before. The plants have been producing such a large number of blossoms that I currently have three different forms of extraction taking place all at once. The tincture was the first extract I started, in that process the sweet smelling flowers are placed into organic grape alcohol. The second might be termed a cold infusion or maceration, in this scenario the white blossoms are put into organic jojoba oil.

The third process, which was begun this week, is an enfleurage. Each morning I place each posy face down covering the entire surface, in the evening before bed I remove them because they oxidize very quickly. After only three days of adding blossoms the base has already been well impregnated with the delicious aroma of the tantalizing florets.

I have also begun a plumeria enfleurage, although I don't have nearly as many flowers and plants to work with as the Jasmine. It's all a bit of an experiment, if it goes well I'll get more plants and move onto bigger production. A plantation in for organic jasmin sambac and plumeria flowers Hawaii is what I will visualize each time I inhale the euphoric inducing aromas.

These type of processes are no longer used by the perfume industry because they require much labor and costs. Since profits are king in this realm synthetics, which are cheaper and consistent, have become queen, Among the indie natural perfume and herbalism crowd you will find quite a few keeping these old world practices alive. Judging from what is happening with the rise of the artisanal food scene, I suspect more and more will be surfacing.

Photos ©RoxanaVilla, taken with a Canon and I-pad via Instagram app.

Jasmine Enfleurage

Way back in the nineties I was gifted a tiny cobalt blue vial of a Jasmine enfleurage from France. It was extremely special because of its rarity and cost. I've cherished it ever since and never really considered doing the process myself...until now.


The process can be seen really well in the 2006 film "Perfume: The Story of a Murderer" when the lead character Jean-Baptiste Grenouille goes to Grasse and is seen delicately pressing flowers into fat.


Enfleurage is defined as a process of absorbing the aroma of fresh plant material, usually a single flower, into fat. The systematic repetition of adding and removing the flowers may be over a period of many days.

Since the pink jasmine, Jasminum polyanthum, is now blooming here in SoCal I have finally delved into this technique using some key pointers from a soap maker in Valencia, California named Jo Lasky. My first batch is made with flowers from my small, somewhat neglected pink jasmine. As soon as the mango butter arrives I will be going into full production mode using the pink jasmine planted at my mothers house in Encino more than ten years ago when I lived there.

In the meantime here is what I've done on a small scale and what you can do if so inspired:

1. I gently melted some organic virgin coconut oil I had on hand and poured it into a shallow glass dish.


2. I harvested the fresh pink jasmine flowers.


3. Once the coconut oil had solidified, I made sure the flowers had no moisture and gently laid them face down on the top of the fat.


4. I then covered the dish to make sure the aroma chemicals emanating from the blossoms were contained within an insulated headspace

5. Once the flowers have been spent, probably in about 72 hours, I will remove them and add new ones, repeating this process until the butter is fully charged with the scent of the blossoms.

6. Traditionally an enfleurage would then be washed in alcohol to become an absolute. My intention is to use the enfleurage for the body butters I have been formulating.

Once my Jasmin sambac, Gardenia and Plumeria start blooming I will begin this technique with those blossoms as well.

Images and content ©Roxana Villa