Spices

Spices continue to inspire dreams through the diversity of their aromas and their unique fragrances.

Cinnamon, Cinnamum verum, zaylanicum Lauraceae

Originally 
Its cultivation began in Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon). Two species, producing bark with similar scents, have been used for a very long time: one grows in southern China and northern Vietnam. The other tree is smaller and is found growing wild in southern India and on the western slopes of Sri Lanka. This mainly supplies the perfumery market with a product of excellent quality.

Of the history 
Of all the spices, cinnamon is the oldest used. In China, there are medicinal recipes citing cinnamon dating back to two thousand years BC. JC

It was also used by the Egyptians who brought it from India, to embalm their dead thanks to its antiparasitic properties.

Uses
The essential oil obtained from the bark is a product widely used in aromatherapy. It is antiseptic, antiviral, for respiratory diseases such as bronchitis, colds, anti-infectious against the flu, anti-fatigue, it boosts the body, it is immunostimulant, antiparasitic, antifungal. Attention in external use it is terribly dermocaustic.

A bit of botany 
The Ceylon cinnamon tree is a small tree that grows up to 2000m altitude. It is from the same botanical family as Laurel, Camphor, Rosewood. The Lauraceae are a family of trees and fragrant shrubs. In China it is a tree that can reach 20m. from above. Its flowers have a greenish color and a rather unpleasant smell. The peasants harvest the bark during the rainy season. By scraping and rolling it, it forms hollow sticks which will be dried before distillation.

Its mode of extraction
The essential oil is obtained by hydrodistillation. From the cinnamon tree, two different essences are obtained, one from its bark, the other from its leaves.

In perfumery 
It enters into spicy, oriental perfumes often used as a heart note. It is an ingredient that we use in small quantities because it is quite powerful and violent, in olfactory terms we say that it is "full". Cinnamon has two facets, one very warm and the other very woody. It is compatible with all supports, perfumes, diffusers, soaps, candles. Distilled by supercritical C02 we obtain a smell very close to that of the bark. The leaf is used more in male fragrances.

Cardamom, elettaria cardmomum var. Minuscula L. Zingiberaceae

Originally 
It is native to southern India, is grown in Kerala where you can see entire hills covered with this beautiful plant with large, broad, drooping leaves. Large swaths of them are also seen in the hills of central Sri Lanka. It is grown throughout Southeast Asia, as far as Indochina. And to a lesser extent in Guatemala. It is also called angel seed because eating it gives very good breath, refreshes it. The French name cardamom comes from the Arabic name khahmama.

Of the history
It is one of the oldest known spices in India. It was mentioned in the Ayurveda books of Susruta 3000 BC. Our era.

Plutarch in the XNUMXst century AD notes in his treatise "Isis and Osiris" that she enters the perfumes of Egyptian sacrifices. It becomes more common as for the IIIrd and IVth century the use of spices becomes popular. It probably arrives at the same time as pepper and ginger via the Crusaders on their return from the East. Today, in Arab countries and India, the seeds are mixed in coffee and in the famous recipe of "Indian chai" to flavor and give beneficial properties.

Uses 
The Egyptians chewed cardamom seeds to whiten their teeth and freshen their breath. It helps digestion, calms stomach aches, reduces allergenic effects, relieves respiratory problems and those related to the kidneys. In China it is a remedy especially against intestinal ailments. It flavors coffee in all countries of the Near and Middle East while in Japan, it flavors tea. In Europe, it is used in the composition of gingerbread.

A bit of botany
From the same family as ginger, turmeric and galangal. The light almond green capsules, white when washed, are tight in small clusters on the branches. These small capsules contain between 15 -20 black seeds. It is from its seeds that we extract the essential oil used in perfumery, of the minuscula variety. World production, estimated at around five tonnes per year, is very limited.

In perfumery
It is an expensive and distinctive product that is only used sparingly in perfumery. It is a sweet, warm and spicy heart note which makes it very attractive in composition in floral perfumes, chypres. It goes well with fresh waters, masculine fragrances with a coniferous note.

The Ambrette, abelmoschus moschatus

Originally
This shrub, by its French and scientific names, recalls the two greatest products of perfumery of animal origin, amber and musk. Its name abelmoschus comes from the Arabic amber which means amber and such misk musk. It is native to India, is grown in almost all tropical countries.

Of the history
In the Indian pharmacopoeia the seeds are stimulant, stomachic and antispasmodic. In the Middle Ages they were already considered medicinal for their toning properties. In tropical Africa these seeds find culinary use as a condiment. It has become one of the most important medicinal plants in Guyana, where the Creoles use it for its seeds for its properties and treat poisonous snake bites. Modern medicine uses it for the presence of alkaloids in the seeds.

A bit of botany
It is a large flower of the same botanical family and of the same shape as the Mallow flower which is small and that of the Hibiscus a little larger, the ambrette flower has an even larger size. White in color with in its inner heart a dark purple color almost black. Its seeds are small, bean-shaped. In Provence it flowers only in August, its flowering lasts only two or three days, it does not support the full sun opens with cool.

Clove, Syzygium aeomaticum L. Myrtaceae

Clove and nutmeg are the most oriental spices used in the European world.

Originally 
The clove is the flower of a tree that is native to the Maluku Islands, between southeast Indonesia and northeast New Guinea.

Of the history 
The Dutch, after driving the Portuguese out of the Moluccas in 1605, strove to maintain the monopoly of cloves and nutmeg. They went so far as to destroy large plantations to keep only small plots that were easier to monitor. Yet in 1771 Pierre Poivre (horticulturist, botanist) succeeded, despite their supervision, in seizing a few clove and nutmeg trees which he introduced to Mauritius along with other spice trees such as cinnamon trees.

A bit of botany 
The clove tree is a large tree that can reach 20 meters in height. Its flowers are small, with 4 pinkish-white petals. The tree is eight years old when it begins to be exploited, it can produce 3 to 5 kg of dry cloves per year. Before they bloom, the still green buds are harvested, which are called cloves. They are then left to dry in the sun until they get a dark brown color. The clove is one of the richest plants in essential oil, we can get an essential oil from its leaves, the small stems of the flowers and the leaves and finally from the still closed flower buds.

Its mode of extraction 
It is the button oil which is the finest and the most used in perfumery. It comes from the island of Ceylon. Three kilos of fresh buds give one kg. With steam distillation, which lasts between 8 and 24 hours, a clear, slightly viscous liquid is obtained, yellow to light brown in color, with a spicy smell.

In perfumery 
The essential oil is widely used in toilet waters, it is a heart note. It has carnation, floral and spicy notes. Especially when paired with rose.

Ginger, Zingiber officinale, Rosc. Zingiberaceae

Originally 
This plant, whose rhizome is known for its medicinal, culinary and perfumery properties, is native to India. Its very old use, is quoted in the books of Ayurveda, in traditional medicine, a remedy of great use. Officinal ginger has been introduced to all regions of the tropics. It is also cultivated today in China, Japan, Brazil, Jamaica and Abyssinia.

Of the history
Widely used during the High Middle Ages, Venice and Genoa imported it in large quantities from Alexandria, the ports of Syria and Palestine. This pungent rhizome was used in many ways in the kitchens of the medieval West. After the discovery of the Americas, its culture will quickly develop in Brazil.

According to an anonymous XNUMXth century author, it awakens the appetite and strengthens the stomach, its chewed root excites salivation, infused in milk it is the best remedy for gout. It is an excellent stimulant, antiseptic, it tones the body, develops immunity. It is also very effective against nausea or vomiting. It is also known for its aphrodisiac properties.

A bit of botany 
From the same botanical family as cardamom, turmeric and galangal, all the plants in this family have a strong and very aromatic nature. The plant reproduces by dividing its rhizome, which is rich in fragrant substances. The harvest of the rhizome takes place once a year. In India the average yield is 12 to 13 tons of fresh rhizomes per hectare, then giving between 2,5 to 5 tons of dry product.

Its mode of extraction 
Once cleaned, rid of the rootlets, the rhizome is immersed in water, peeled and then dried for one to two weeks. The powder can be extracted using a solvent such as acetone or alcohol. Ginger rhizome can be distilled, macerated, “infused” in alcohol or extracted with the supercritical CO2 method, which gives the best essence. These different extraction methods give a different olfactory palette, an enrichment for the perfumer.

In perfumery 
Ginger is a top note found in bases called amber, that is to say perfumes with oriental notes in both feminine and masculine perfumes. The rhizome of Japanese ginger smells like bergamot. Distilled by hydrodistillation, it gives off a fruity, lemony and spicy flavor. Extracted by maceration with alcohol, we obtain an absolute with a warmer, heavier, almost vanilla note. Solvent extraction gives a cooler tone. Finally, the supercritical CO2 extraction makes it possible to obtain a fruity, lemony, angelic note very appreciated by perfumers, very close to fresh ginger.

Nutmeg, Myristic fragrans, Houttuyn, Myristicaceae

Originally 
It is native like the clove of the Moluccas Islands but it is currently cultivated in Sri Lanka, southern India, Malaysia and even in Brazil. Nutmeg fragments have been found in Egyptian tombs. It was the Arabs who introduced cloves and nutmeg to the West around the XNUMXth century. Its Arabic name, “juz buwa” means fragrant nut.

Of the history 
Its history closely follows that of the clove tree. First the Portuguese discovered it in the Moluccas archipelago, then the Dutch hunted them in the 1775th century and secured the monopoly of these two spices, cloves and nutmeg, for two centuries. Pierre Poivre will steal some plants and introduce them in XNUMX on the island of Reunion, called Bourbon Island.

Uses 
Nutmeg is exciting, energizing, it was considered in medieval Arab and European pharmacopoeia as a drug, beneficial in small doses but dangerous and sometimes fatal in high doses. Indeed, the essential oil taken in high doses is a narcotic and a narcotic that can lead to delirium and hallucination. Two to three drops on a sugar stimulates digestion. Butter, in friction, is useful in chronic rheumatism.

A bit of botany 
The Muscadier is a tree that can reach 15 meters in height. The fruits are harvested throughout the year, before their complete maturity, they are light brown in color. The nut, the aril, is separated from its bark, when it reaches 5 to 6 cm in diameter, using a knife. Then the nut is dried in the sun. This nut has inside what is called mace, the seed. An adult tree produces nearly 15 kilos of nuts and 2 kg of mace.

In perfumery 

In the XNUMXth century, perfumery used mace water and recommended using it in moderation because in mixtures, its smell covers the others. For modern perfumery mace absolutes have a warm, spicy flavored and sweet smell. It is used in the composition of colognes and eau de toilette for men.

The pepper, piper igrum L. Piperaceae

His origin 
It is with pepper that we can get an idea of ​​the antiquity and extent of trade and maritime routes thanks to the almost global universality of its use. He is from India, from the Malabar coast. Its name is derived from the Latin piper, derived from the Greek piperi, borrowed from the Sanskrit pippali. He aroused many envious people and provoked many quarrels.

A little bit of history 
It was found in the mummy of Ramses II. Long pepper, Piper longum L. known as apothecary pepper was rarer and was worth twice as much as black pepper. Called seed of paradise by Venetian merchants, pepper was a currency of exchange, instead of gold, a very expensive commodity and some did not hesitate to falsify it with the fruit of the juniper.

The wealth of a house was measured by the stock of pepper contained in its reserves.

Dioscorides in the XNUMXst century said that black pepper is black because there is such an abundance of snakes around that they set fire around the trees that bear it. Hippocrates recommended it against migraines, flatus, worms, rabies and syphillis. Platearius, a XNUMXth century physician, wrote in the “Book of Simple Medicines” that the Saracens burn it in large ovens so that the grain can be kept longer and so that it is not sown in another country. The powder put in the nose makes you sneeze and cleanses the brain of phlegmatic superfluities. He also says that the patient suffering from fever must be coated with pepper mixed with olive oil, this takes away the coldness and the tremors. During the Renaissance, people carried a bag of pepper to protect themselves against pestilential diseases. It is the most consumed spice in the world.

Botany 
It belongs to a botanical family very present in the tropical regions of the Old World, Asia and Africa. It is harvested green, when it is fresh, red when it is ripe, black when its seed is dried, white when it is shelled. All stages have a very characteristic aroma but always hot and pungent. There is also Japanese Pepper, Chinese Pepper, Maniguette, Cubeb, Long Pepper, Jamaican Pepper, they are all marketed under the name of pepper.

Its mode of extraction
Its essential oil is obtained by steam distillation of the grains.

In perfumery
Its use is very old, the Greek and Roman perfumers knowing how to please the ladies, used it in their liquid and solid compositions. Its warm and pungent fragrance was sometimes used in minute doses in certain compositions based on rose and carnation. Today it is used in the composition of men's toilet perfumes and in high quality products. Pepper essence is spicy, fresh, woody and dry. It is a base note.

You can find different spicy notes in Orée Dorée, solar perfume.

Get carried away by ginger in Vert Désert, spicy woody fragrance, as well as the pink berry in Noir Délit, gourmet oriental fragrance.

Based on research by Tachka Sofer