Anya's Garden Perfumes + The Natural Perfumery Institute

  The Secret World of Ambrette Seeds by  Anya McCoy  |  Mar 8, 2015  |  Anya's Garden Perfumes ,  natural aromatics ,  raw materials of perfumery  |  1 comment Oh, the incredible beauty of the inner chambers of ripe ambrette seeds! I have been growing a patch of them for several months, chronicled  here  and  here . Last night I sat down for another session removing the seeds from the hairy, prickly pod – ouch! The pod is made up of five segments, or locules, and I discovered the easiest way to “open” them was to pull them apart from the pointed non-stem end. I’ve taken some photos of the inside of the locules before, but last night I was determined to get a photo or two with most of the seeds lined up. Sounds easy? Not. When you pull the fully-ripened pod apart, no matter how gently, many of the seeds tend to drop down into the bowl or make a leap for freedom, flying about. Interior of ambrette seed locule, showing funicu...

  Growing Ambrette Seeds for Making Perfume by  Anya McCoy  |  Oct 13, 2014  |  Anya's Garden Perfumes ,  natural aromatics ,  Perfume From Your Garden book ,  raw materials of perfumery  |  2 comments Just a quick post about the progress of my patch of ambrette seed plants. Known as Abelmoschas moschata or (Syn.  Hibiscus abelmoschus  L.), is prized for food, drink, industrial and medicinal uses, but I prize it for the musk-scented seeds, which are valuable in perfumery. The seeds have a floral, musky scent, and can substitute, in their own way, not identically, the scent of the musk deer grains. They’re a true cruelty-free way to add a musky scent to perfume. Imagine my surprise when I went out to re-shoot the blurry yellow ambrette flower, and found it had morphed to a lovely salmon color! There are dozens of flower buds on my 15 plants, but there was only one flower yesterday and today, the first of the patch. I didn’t...