Enfleurage

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Enfleurage (from French "flower scent") is a process for obtaining pomades from flowers by absorbing the fragrances with fat .

Enfleurage à froid

Freshly harvested flowers are carefully sprinkled on glass plates coated with fat (or on grids above these glass plates). After a few days, the flowers are removed and replaced with new ones. This process is repeated for about three months until the fat layer is richly saturated with the essential oil of the flowers, this intermediate product is called pomade. Finally, the scented oil is separated from the fat by washing the glass plates ( extraction of the fat) with alcohol .

The main fat used is pork or beef lard , whereby care must be taken to ensure that it is odorless (the fat is washed out repeatedly before the first use until all the unpleasant flavors have been removed). In addition, extra carefully (cold) pressed and therefore odorless olive oil (virgin oil ) can be used.

The advantage of enfleurage is that only the volatile fragrance oils are obtained and not other alcohol-soluble extracts from the flowers. It is also used when the scented oils are sensitive to heat and would be damaged by distillation or steam distillation .

Depending on how often the flowers have been renewed (e.g. change 33 times), the product is called Pomade No. 33 . The pure flower oil obtained in this way is called Essence absolue d'enfleurage and is extremely expensive.

Enfleurage à chaud

The enfleurage à chaud , also called maceration , is the faster technique compared to the enfleurage à froid . The fat and flowers are mixed together and later heated to around 60 ° C. The flowers are exchanged after each heating process. As with cold fat extraction, the oil is separated from the fat by alcohol.

literature

  • Günther Becker: Plastics as sorbents in enfleurage . Dissertation, Saarbrücken University.
  • Tobias Pehle: Dumont's little lexicon of perfume. Manufacture, brands, use . Dörfler Verlag, Eggolsheim 2008. ISBN 978-3-89555-537-4
  • Patrick Süskind : The perfume . The story of a murderer . Diogenes Verlag, Zurich 2006, ISBN 3-257-22800-7 (novel containing a detailed description of the Enfleurage)