Tradition
Enfleurage is one of the traditional solvent-extraction methods and is said to have existed since ancient Egyptian times. In 1750, the French perfumer Piver is said to have devised the prototype that enabled its wider adoption, and it appears to have become common in Grasse.
First, flowers are laid face down on pork or beef fat, allowing the aromatic molecules released by the flowers to be absorbed into the fat over several days to several weeks. This produces a fat called a “pomade” that contains aromatic constituents (it is also known as an ointment). When this pomade is dissolved in alcohol at a low temperature, its fragrance transfers to the alcohol; evaporating the alcohol then yields the essential oil. This is called cold enfleurage (French: L’enfleurage à froid; English: Cold enfleurage). It has been used especially for delicate flowers that cannot be steam-distilled, such as jasmine and tuberose.
By contrast, extraction using heat is called hot enfleurage (French: L’enfleurage à chaud; English: Hot enfleurage). It is also known as maceration. The fat is heated to 40–60°C to liquefy it, and flowers are added, saturating the fat with aromatic constituents over about two hours. It is then washed with alcohol to obtain the aromatic constituents. This method appears to have been used for flowers such as rose and mimosa.
Launched in 1930, Jean Patou’s Joy, said to be the world’s most expensive perfume, used enfleurage-extracted essences from 10,600 jasmine flowers and 28 dozen roses (in a single bottle of perfume).
Because of the manual labor involved and the cost in money and time, this traditional method gradually faded out between the 1930s and the 1950s. Today, there appear to be very few companies or individuals still using the old method.
Enfleurage Today
Although enfleurage makes it relatively easy to extract a flower’s natural scent, the process described above shows how labor-intensive it is, requiring considerable time and labor costs. From a sustainability perspective, too, the method is somewhat out of step with the times.
For these reasons, fragrance companies have been developing new extraction methods using plant-derived oils and the latest technology.
Robertet
Of the major fragrance companies, Robertet was probably the last to continue practicing traditional enfleurage. However, because animal fats could no longer be used on ethical grounds, the company switched to plant-derived fats and still carries out enfleurage by hand today.
Our goal is to restore the scent without losing what matters. To do so, we must make preparations that require weeks of work and attention.
Robert Sinigaglia
MANE
E-Pure Jungle Essence
We have reinvented the enfleurage process using cutting-edge technology. And we have succeeded in capturing the scents of nature.
MANE
The company already had a technology called Jungle Essence, originally developed for delicate fragrance materials whose scent is easily damaged. The company and its perfumers apparently experimented with ways of adapting it to enfleurage. Animal fats had been used in enfleurage, but because these could no longer be used on ethical grounds, various plant essences were tested. Jojoba oil ultimately appeared to be the most suitable, and the decision was made to use it.
As of May 2022, the plant essences extracted using E-Pure Jungle Essence are the following three:
・Jasmine grandiflorum
・Jasmine sambac
・Red champaca
Because extracts obtained through E-Pure Jungle Essence do not require petrochemical solvents, they are green ingredients with a very low environmental impact, and they are extremely close to the natural scent of the flowers. Compared with absolutes, they have fewer fatty or vegetal notes, and the quality of the extracts is extraordinarily high. They are truly the flowers themselves as we know them in nature.
Serge Majoullier
IFF
Enfleurage 2.0
LMR, the IFF-owned company counted among the world’s leading producers of natural fragrance ingredients, teamed up with IFF to develop a 100% organic, plant-derived solvent. The technology born from this development is Enfleurage 2.0.
In 2020, this technology produced the world’s first lavandin absolute to receive Ecocert organic certification.
