Let’s Enfleurage!

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Right in the kitchen

Believe it or not, I know a technique by which you can make an infinite variety of exotic, sweet-smelling perfumes using little more than [1] fresh flowers from the garden, [2] ordinary rubbing alcohol, and [3] a hunk of beef suet The technique—which has been known to French perfume houses for centuries-is called enfleurage.

You've no doubt noticed how animal fats (butter, lard, suet, etc.) tend to absorb odors from any and all nearby strong-smelling substances. Well, it's this very property which makes enfleurage possible ... and which perfume houses use to advantage in the manufacture of their sweet-scented goods.

This is how enfleurage is carried out in the fields of southern France: Freshly plucked flower petals are layered onto large panes of fat-coated glass, and the sheets are loaded into wooden frames called chassis. Each chassis full of fat, glass, and flower petals is next scaled airtight for several days . . . during which time the lard "soaks up" fragrances from the heavily scented flowers. The old petals are then taken out of the chassis and replaced by fresh blossoms, the frames are resealed, and the process is allowed to continue for a few more days. This procedure is repeated again and again, until finally the fats have absorbed all the fragrance they can hold.

At this point, the aromatic fat—which is called pomade—is scraped from the glass, collected, and put through various solvent extraction steps designed to remove the fragrance and bottle it. The deodorized fats are then recycled and used again in the enfleurage process.

YOU CAN DO IT TOO

The technique I've just described is something you can do right in your own kitchen ... on a smaller scale, of course. Using flowers from your garden, suet from the kitchen, and alcohol from the medicine cabinet, you can create perfumes which are truly unique ... truly you. Moreover, the most expensive of your kitchen concoctions will only cost you—out of pocket—three or four cents an ounce to make, compared to the several dollars an ounce you might pay for the department store equivalent,

You'll need no special skills and very little equipment to get started in enfleurage. Here's everything the process requires:

[1] Beef suet, reasonably free of impurities. (Lily-white lard obtained at the market will do . . . but where's your spirit of adventure?) The amount of the grease you'll need will vary, depending on how much perfume you intend to make.

[2] One large pot for purifying the fat.

[3] Powdered alum. (Easily obtainable from almost any drugstore.)

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