Cold Enfleurage

Another way of bringing out the good smells in raw materials is COLD FLOWERING. This process is used for the most fragile flower petals. Rose and jasmine, for example.

The large wooden frame with glass in the middle you see here dates from 1945-1946. It was used many, many times, as it was a very popular method of extraction at the time. As it requires quite a lot of handling, and labor is expensive in this day and age, it's not used much these days.

The glass is spread with animal fat or unscented vegetable fat. Next, the flower petals whose scent you wish to extract are placed on top. These beautiful petals will transmit their scent to the grease. Each petal is turned over every day. After 2 or 3 days, the petal will have given its all.

We discard them and replace them with new ones, so that the grease can absorb the odor over a period of 3 to 6 months. Solvents are used to separate the fat from the rest. As the solvent evaporates, it leaves a concentrate of this magnificent scent, which is used to create a perfume.

Look for QR-Code 15 on the picture of a water mill