Our niche perfumes are inspired by location and over the past few weeks all the way out in West Wales we have been harvesting from our fruit trees. Picking heritage apples and pears alongside foraging for the damsons and berries in the hedgerows.
This year it seems that the branches weigh heavier than ever with fruit, and we definitely have more than our fair share of apples.
In Springtime I love our apple trees for their warm, delicately scented blossom, which hints at the fruit and the warm months ahead. Right now, I love them even more as I find myself hoarding their fruit, cooking them up in a kitchen awash with their sweet, fruity-floral qualities.
And as recommended in the best recipes, the scent of apple pairs very well with citrus and rose when used in the art of perfumery.
But like many fruits, you cannot extract the scent of the apple fruit itself. When the perfumer wants to use this gorgeous scent – most widely as a heart note – it needs to be recreated before it can be blended.
Apple is a member of the rose family, which makes sense when you consider the apple scented leaf of the Sweet Briar Rose. Which is how I find myself now trying to recreate an olfactory sketch of an apple with a dozen differing oils.
Later today, I will be back in the kitchen harmonising notes of scent and smell by cooking up a crumble or a pie.
And tomorrow I will go out and pick some more.