Bois de Jasmin

Jasmine Ratafia and Rose Liqueur : Flavor & Fragrance

I love reading old cookbooks. One is immediately immersed into another world, where the daily concerns, dietary beliefs and time constraints are very different from ours. The recipes reflect all of this, ranging from simple preparations to complex affairs requiring extra helping hands. Whether I open a 19th century book published in Russia or in France, I know that there is always something intriguing to anticipate, a new taste, a new technique, a new inspiration.

The main reason for my fascination with older cookbooks, however, lies in the explicit link between olfaction and cooking. Previous generations of cooks were quite savvy when it came to aromas, and they understood the basic principles of blending spices and herbs to create distinctive flavors. Recipes for perfumes were commonplace in cookbooks published before the 20th century, and those could be found alongside recipes for liqueurs and cordials. With the growth of the commercial perfume industry, the tradition of homemade fragrances waned and it is likely that many interesting preparations have simply been forgotten.

Scented Geranium and Spiced Arancello : Perfume Beyond the Bottle

By Elise Pearlstine

Sometimes the leaves, not the flowers, tell the story of an aromatic plant. I fell in love with the fragrant leaves of the scented geranium from my first sniff. From the rich, lemony smell of the citronella type to the green, floral, minty smell of a peppermint one, it is a wonder to rub your fingers over the rough, intricately shaped leaves to test the scent. There are many varieties--spicy ones, minty ones, as well as a beautiful pine-scented type with hints of rose and nutmeg. There are several hundred species in the wild. I once had a lovely chocolate mint variety that I worked very hard to keep alive in southern Florida but it did not make it through the hot summer months. It had a lovely, deep minty smell (the chocolate was mostly in my imagination) but it was a striking plant with purple streaked leaves. I gave up on scented geraniums for a number of years but recently bought six small plants – rose geraniums and attar of roses geraniums. Within a few weeks, the rose geraniums seemed to realize they were in Florida and quickly withered and died. The attar of roses plants, however, have stayed with me. I recently moved them into my office to get photos and just the act of moving them and putting them in a smaller room served to bring out the scent. They filled the room with a heady scent of rich rose with a lovely touch of green herbs.

Scented Garden: Growing and Enjoying Palmarosa (Lemonade Recipe)

by Elise Pearlstine

Victoria’s Note: Wildlife ecologist, natural perfumer and avid gardener, Elise Pearlstine has an intimate connection to the world around her through her diverse interests. Her philosophy may be summed by the word “bellyflowers” (also the name of her own blog.) Bellyflowers are aromatic wildflowers so tiny that you have to get on your belly to smell them. It is about slowing down and taking in your surroundings.
In this series of guest articles, Elise will be sharing with us her passion and enthusiasm for scented plants as well as her extensive knowledge of gardening. Please welcome Elise with her first post on palmarosa, a fascinating grass that smells of roses and green citrus rinds.

If you chew on a blade of palmarosa grass you get a sharp, sweet and tangy taste that is very slightly floral, almost citrusy and the smell of the essential oil seems to sneak into your nose. The smell is rich and floral, seemingly more complex than the essential oil. The plant from which I have picked the blade grows next to the front porch of a lovely small house in Miami. It has exploded from a small houseplant to a grassy clump with stalks over eight feet tall and is mingling with a large Jasmine auriculatum. Seeds cover the tops of the palmarosa stalks where it bends over the sidewalk and steps. It is a rangy plant with a reed-like center stem and grass blades growing along the sides. New tender growth is coming up from the bottom of the clump and will soon replace the part I have cut.

Opal Basil and Lemon Sherbet : Flavor and Fragrance

This post first appeared in October 2009, but I would like to remind you of this refreshing, fuschia tinted drink, which is perfect on these hot summer days. I have also been making it lately with Thai basil, which produces a lovely peach colored liquid.

Few things remind me more of summer than basil. Its interplay of bitter peppery notes and sweet licorice-anise is made vivid by the dark, tangy verdancy, a perfect counterpoint. In perfumery, it is a classical herbal note, used in both masculine and feminine fragrances for its cooling aromatic effect. Paired with citrus, it makes for a scintillating sensation. Thus, Hermes in-house perfumer Jean-Claude Ellena relies on the green note of basil to wrap its grapefruit accords in fragrances like Hermessence Rose Ikebana and Eau de Pamplemousse Rose. In fact, the combination of basil and lemon is a perfect one to appropriate for gastronomical explorations, whether one wishes to compose a simple salsa or a fish marinade. Furthermore, I would like to suggest another idea--a chilled drink that traces its roots to the Middle Eastern sherbet tradition. It is an essence of summer in a glass.

Flavor and Fragrance : Love Potion #99

by Michelle Krell Kydd

Love potion. The word has the taste of alchemy, dry ice and witchery. The concept of food as a talisman is not a new one, but when it is attached to love there seems to be an unending string of incarnations. It is no wonder; every act of coupling has a unique quality and whether or not it is intended, the potential for creating new life is written into the physical expression of affection. In that tide of energy, identities are exchanged, traded and temporarily obliterated. Each person reemerges slightly different, yet more themselves than they were before. How could one not try to pierce that mystery by engaging the sense of taste? ...