In case you missed our last article on tincturing in Cafleurebon stay tuned for our next article on enfleurage. This really excites me on so many levels First, I must confess I have never smelled an enfleurage but like tincturing is to vanilla beans, an eidetic snapshot of the headspace of the spice, so is enfleurage a really accurate depiction of what a flower really smells like when we scrunch our nose into the heart of its being and inhale. Samples are being flown in from around the country and even as far away as South Africa for me and anyone who makes nice to me. This is another perfume technique that has its roots in the economic and cultural development of humankind. During the Bronze age pioneer perfumers figured out that they could catch the scent of flowers freshly picked when heated in a skillet filled with fatty oils. Next to inventing the wheel this is the best thing out there. We recently read an article by esteemed enfleuragis Sophie du Toit of African Aromatics about a way to make a smoke enfleurage from woods and resins burned in a bowl. We tincture everything we burn in our incense bowl and use it in Gone But Not, but this looks even more promising. Here's a link to her fascinating article on smoke enfleurage. Soon as we can get away to the country we are going to try this method and are filled with anticipation. Enfleurage baby!
In Grasse, cold enfleurage has always been "women's work", see photo at top, so it's time to break the gender barrier for sure.
zzzz