Ask the Perfumer - Sunday, Feb. 5, 2012 - until 10 PM EST

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What a glorious day in sunny, warm Miami!  I have a lot of gardening to do today, but I'll be sure to answer your questions about perfumery when I take breaks.  I'll post a photo here later day, showing how my pineapple patch is starting to fruit.  It's very early for this, and I guess it's because we've had a very warm winter.  Usually the pineapples don't start to fruit until late March/April and the fruits are ready to harvest in June/July.

There are so many fragrant flowering plants right now, I can hardly keep up with the harvest for tinctures and enfleurage! I hope you saw my post yesterday about the aglaia.  I really wish I could be a virtual Anya Aglaiaseed and get this fragrant wonder into everyone's home!

Comments

  1. Becky2/05/2012 1:35 PM

    Hi Anya

    Why do you dilute your eos and absolutes before playing with them? I see you mention this a lot.

    Becky

    ReplyDelete
  2. anyasgarden2/05/2012 5:30 PM

    Dear Becky:

    There are several reasons for this:
    1. It "opens up" the aromatic, allowing you to fully experience what it smells like in alcohol.
    2. It saves you wasting lots of expensive aromatics. You can get the same results as using the "unopened" aromatics, months ahead of time. It's a win-win.
    3. All modern perfumers use this method, as it's taught in the classic French perfumery schools, and everybody is on the same footing when conducting organoleptic studies and then making mods.

    hth,
    Anya

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ramona Smith2/05/2012 6:29 PM

    I love all of your photos of your fragrant plants. Are there any you can't grow? Do all your flowers become tinctures for your business?

    ReplyDelete
  4. anyasgarden2/05/2012 11:06 PM

    Dear Ramona:

    I have no luck with several plants, and I don't know why: lemon balm, ginger lily and osmanthus come to mind. Most flowers, some grasses and some leaves make their way into my processing plant ;-) Just today - a lovely yield of aglaia flowers.

    Thanks for asking,
    Anya

    ReplyDelete

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