It took a long time and was very time consuming. The saturated fat is called a pommade. The pommade was placed into a vessel where it was washed with ethyl alcohol. The mixture would have been cooled and then filtered to separate the fat from the alcohol. At this point the alcohol would contain most of the scent molecules. The alcohol was then evaporated off gently and what was left behind was the pure concentrated absolute from the flowers.

I decided to attempt enfleurage on a small scale using purified coconut oil which is unscented and has similar properties of beef fat, meaning that it is solid at room temperature.

The flowers I am using are the beautiful scented flowers of the Common Gorse (Ulex europaeus). The shrub grows wild in Ireland where it is considered a weed in rural areas. It is now being cultivated for landscape gardens where it provides both colour and scent. The smell of gorse flowers is like coconut crossed with frangipani. It has a buttery creamy quality which is most powerful in the warm sun. With help from my six year old son, I picked the flowers and left them on sheets of paper to dry off excess moisture because the flowers were slightly damp from the morning dew. The next day I gently heated the coconut fat and poured it onto a shallow glass dish. When it was cooled I sprinkled the flowers onto the surface of the fat. I gently pressed them into the fat. Then I placed the plate into the warm sun to help to extract the perfume. The first layer is still extracting and I am going to leave it overnight and then replace the flowers in the morning.

Here are some of the petals and flowers wilting on paper to get rid of excess moisture.

Here is the first extraction taking place in the sun. Already the coconut fat which was previously unscented is beginning to smell sweet.

To be continued...