8/9/2019 The Art of Enfleurage

1/3

The art of enfleurage

One of the oldest techniques used in perfumery, enfleurage consists in naturally extracting theperfume from flowers by means of absorption carried out by fatty substances, also known as leaf fat. Over the centuries, ben oil from an East Indian tree, olive and sweet almond oils and above allpurified animal fat have been used. Today, technical progress permits the use of materials such asaseline.

We differentiate between hot and cold enfleurage depending on the plant’s resistance to heat. TheGrasse region is the historic center of French enfleurage, a unique skill that is disappearing.

!ot enfleurage "also known as maceration#$

It is undoubtedly one of the most primiti e techniques used for the least fragile flowers. !oting fragrantsubstances’ affinity with fat, relati ely early on it was decided to macerate flowers in fat or oils heated in awater bath or naturally by the sun. "nce the e#cipient was saturated with perfume, the fatty substancewas filtered through fabric $ linen first of all and then cotton $ and a sort of scented sal e was obtained.

This technique, which was e#tremely well known in %ntiquity, was impro ed o er the centuries with thead ances made in other e#traction methods. &uring the 'ron(e %ge, the elements were boiled in water and then oil. Fabrication was long, lasting from ten days to three months. The product obtained wasfiltered by twisting it in wool or linen cloths and then was conser ed in )ars. The *ycenaeans must ha ehad recourse to alcoholic maceration in wine, with honey and fruit. "li e oil was a fa ored base, alongwith safflower oil and others not formally recogni(ed such as almond or poppy oil. The *ycenaeans were

8/9/2019 The Art of Enfleurage

2/3

also already making use of animal fat.

+nfleurage, which consisted either in putting the flower in contact with a fatty substance or macerating itin an oil that could be heated, was used as early as the +gyptians.

" er the course of time, its technique has been impro ed and is still used for *ay ose, orange blossom,iolet and sweet acacia. The flowers are infused in oils or ointments that ha e been preheated -in a water bath . The flowers are immersed in sheet metal tubs filled with prepared fat that is molten at atemperature of /01/234 but not abo e 503, as this temperature is too high and could mar the aromas anddestroy the top notes. %fter 6/ hr., the fat is reco ered, drained into large strainers to separate it from thefloral residues, and then reheated with a new load of flowers. 7ot enfleurage is finished once the totalweight of the flowers infused is equal to appro#imately si# to eight times the weight of the fat.

%old enfleurage$ the digestion of delicate flowers

This cold e#traction method was de eloped in Grasse around 8920. In the 8: th century, this new processwas a specialty of the city of Grasse, which made its fortune with it. Frames of wood and taut can asknown as tiames, )asmine and tuberose flowers and lard -animal fat that became saturated with the scentof the flowers on contact with them were placed in tin dishes or gla(ed stoneware. Fat enfleurage using

8/9/2019 The Art of Enfleurage

3/3

almonds, whose residues were ground at the end of the process, was carried out to obtain a paste knownas ;p. These pomades or perfumed sal es were also used, as in %ntiquity, tomanufacture the first cosmetic products. In order to increase the fragrance strength of these pomades,reinforcing elements were added? resins, spices or a few drops of essential oils.

This technique, similar to that of digestion, made it possible to treat the most delicate flowers unable towithstand heat, such as )asmine, tuberose and daffodil. It consisted in obtaining the absolute of a flower by letting the petals macerate in a mi#ture of animal fat -pork or mutton combined with a irgin oil , usedfor their ability to absorb and retain the fragrant ingredients. The substance still used today is a mi#ture of 81@ pork fat -soft substance with 61@ beef fat -hard substance . This mi#ture is prepared in winter.

Immediately after picking, the petals, which were sorted and winnowed so as to keep only the freshest,were placed on a fine layer of fat spread o er a wooden frame with a glass plate? this is ;mashing> and;enfleurage>. The frames were hermetically piled up on top of one another so as not to lose any of thefragrant ingredients. These flowers were renewed e ery one or two days, until the fat was saturated with

perfume. Female workers then carried out the ;dAfleurage> to replace the wilted flowers and reco er residual impurities by hand before a new enfleurage. The workers carried out the ;patage> step, whichconsisted in turning the partially flowerBinfused pomade to optimi(e the reception surface for the flowers’fragrance. Then ;scoring>, which increased the absorption surface by forming groo es on the fat using acomb. The fat gradually became impregnated with the scent of flowers, which were changed regularlyuntil the fat was saturated.

In this way, one kilo of fat can absorb the fragrance of three kilos of flowers. When the fat could no longer absorb the perfume, the fat was remo ed with a flat wooden spatula. The scented fat or pomade wasintroduced into a mi#er with alcohol. The alcohol1fat mi#ture was mechanically mi#ed and then left to sit

before reco ering the oleaginous substance and the alcohol charged of all scent molecules separately.This operation was repeated se eral times. The alcohol then became a perfumed e#tract that was filteredone last time to remo e all traces of fat. This o erly e#pensi e technique was abandoned in fa or of e#traction using olatile sol ents, a particularly important French in ention introduced in 8:9@, whichpro ided the profession with a new product? the absolute, an e#tremely pure and ery little alteredproduct.

While cold enfleurage is nowadays only practiced to a limited e#tent in the Grasse region, it represented asignificant acti ity for women in the early 60 th century. It took appro#imately ten women to handle someone hundred frames, bearing in mind that the ma)or houses sometimes owned up to :0,000 frames. In

addition, three kg of flowers were required to scent one kg of fat and it took si#ty days for each kilo of fatto recei e the required amount of flowers. The fat was also difficult to handleC it melted when it becametoo hot. The cost of a treatment of this kind was therefore e#orbitant and we understand it is no longer la ished today on an entire floral campaign.