Pomade and enfleurage

The key tool was the chassis: a glass pane set in a wooden frame. Both faces of the glass were spread with a thin layer of fat, purified so it had no smell of its own. Flowers were strewn on the fat and frames were stacked so each layer of flowers sat enclosed between two layers of fat.

After about a day the spent flowers were removed and fresh ones laid down. The recharging went on for weeks until the fat was strongly scented. The method suited jasmine and tuberose, which keep releasing scent after picking, so the fat could take it up without heat.

According to the City of Grasse heritage sheet, cold enfleurage appeared there around 1750 for delicate flowers such as orange blossom, jasmine and tuberose.

In hot enfleurage, flowers were dropped into melted fat, stirred and held warm for a time, then strained out and replaced with a new batch. Heat moved the scent into the fat faster but could also alter heat-sensitive flowers.

A historical study of the Chiris firm notes that Grasse perfumery in the 17th and 18th centuries used maceration, infusion, distillation and extraction with fat or olive oil, both cold and hot. The same study records that between about 1868 and 1872 Chiris brought steam distillation, rectification and hot enfleurage into its new Grasse factory.

A pomade could be used directly in fatty products. For perfume, it was stirred repeatedly with alcohol. The alcohol drew out the scent while the fat stayed largely undissolved. This alcoholic solution was called extrait de pomade. After chilling, filtering off remaining fat and removing the alcohol under vacuum, the result is a pomade absolute.

ISO 9235 lists the pomade as one of four valid sources of an absolute, alongside the concrete, the resinoid and the CO2 extract. The name "absolue de chassis" also appears in older literature, but sources disagree on whether it meant the pomade absolute or an extract of the spent flowers taken off the frames.

Enfleurage took many hands, many weeks and much fat for a small amount of scent. Volatile solvent extraction did the same job in hours. In Grasse, the Chiris firm built a solvent extraction hall in 1898; the 4,582 square metre building opened in 1899 and was nicknamed "la Mosquée". The French heritage record notes that distillation and enfleurage continued in the older parts of the factory afterwards.

The concrete gradually replaced the pomade during the 20th century. In 1967 Chiris was sold to Universal Oil Products, one marker of the period when Grasse raw material houses were absorbed into larger groups. The Absolue Pays de Grasse geographical indication, approved by INPI in 2020, still accepts enfleurage alongside volatile solvents and supercritical CO2. See also Grasse.

Year-by-year figures for the share of jasmine processed by enfleurage circulate online but could not be traced to a primary source, so they are left out.