Jasmine
Voluptuous Love
Jasmine
Enchanting Flower
Jasmine, along with the rose, is one of the two reigning flowers in perfumery when it comes to fragrant and heady species. Its name comes from Arabic (yāsamīn), itself derived from Middle Persian (yāsaman).
The flower, usually yellow or white, grows on a shrub belonging to the Oleaceae family, mainly cultivated in China, with many species originating from there. Among over 200 species, the most commonly used in perfumery are Jasminum grandiflorum, Jasminum officinale, and Jasminum odoratissimum. Other species are mostly grown in gardens as ornamental shrubs.
In addition to India (where the leading producing state is Tamil Nadu), one of the main producers of jasmine has always been China, where it is sometimes used to flavor tea. But the tree has also adapted to the Mediterranean region in Europe: Jasminum grandiflorum is commonly called Spanish jasmine, and the city of Grasse, since the mid-17th century, has been engaged in jasmine cultivation. The harvesting of Grasse jasmine takes place between the months of June and November.
The flowers must be picked just before dawn and processed as quickly as possible.
The harvested flowers are used in the morning during their blooming, from 6 a.m. to 11 a.m. The flowers are delicately transported and processed on the same day. It takes the picker 2 hours to gather 1 kg of flowers, which contains approximately 10,000 flowers. At the beginning of the harvest, the concrete has a green and relatively dry note.