Page 73 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Provence & The Côte d'Azur

THE RIVIER A AND THE ALPES M ARITIMES  71

The Perfumes of Provence

For the past 400 years, the town of Grasse has been the centre of the perfume
industry. Before that it was a tannery town, but in the 16th century, Italian
immigrant glove-makers began to use the scents of local flowers to perfume
soft leather gloves, a fashion made popular by the Queen, Catherine de’ Médici.
Enormous acres of lavender, roses, jonquils, jasmine and aromatic herbs were
cultivated. Today, cheaper imports of flowers and high land prices mean that Grasse
focuses on the creation of scent. The power of perfume is evoked in Patrick Süskind’s
disturbing novel, Perfume, set partly in Grasse, in which the murderous perfumer
exploits his knowledge of perfume extraction to grisly effect.
Creating a Perfume
Essences are extracted by
various methods, including
distillation by steam or
volatile solvents, which
separate the essential oils.
Enfleurage is a costly and
lengthy method for delicate
flowers such as jasmine
and violet. The blossoms
are layered with lard which
becomes impregnated
Picking early morning jasmine Jasmine being processed with scent.
Steam distillation is one of the
oldest extraction processes
originally developed by
the Arabs. It is now used
mainly for flowers such as
orange blossom. Flowers and
water are boiled together in a
still and the essential oils are
extracted by steam in an
essencier, or oil decanter.

The best perfumes are created
by a perfumer known as a “nose”
who possesses an exceptional
sense of smell. The nose
harmonizes fragrances rather
Vast quantities of blossoms like a musician, blending as
are required to create the many as 300 essences for a
essence or “absolut” perfume perfume. Today, scents can
concentrate. For example, be synthesized by using “head-
almost a ton of jasmine flowers space analysis” which analyzes
are needed to obtain just one the components of the air
litre of jasmine essence. above a flower.