Jasmine blooms at night and its flowers gather early in the morning.
Picking jasmine for the best-selling perfume in the world – Chanel No. 5, which this year celebrates its 100th anniversary, is in full swing near the southern French city of Grasse, located between the Alps and the Mediterranean Sea, informs AFP.
The small white flower – Jasminum Grandiflorum for botanists – is currently grown on less than a dozen farms around this city, which is the historic cradle of perfumery. It blooms at night and its flowers gather early in the morning.
Exhausting work performed on 90 percent of women, bent or squatting between rows of bushes under the scorching rays of the sun and entirely by hand. They work with exhaust movements that are repeated thousands of times, as 8,000 to 10,000 flowers are needed to collect one kilogram of jasmine at the end of the morning.
Jasmine is more delicate and blooms longer, says 50-year-old Colette Mule, whose family has been growing perfume plants since 1840 and exclusively for the Chanel fashion house since 1987. The gardens stretch over 20 hectares, which are about to grow.
The luxury goods company announced today that it has bought an additional 10 hectares (100,000 square meters) of land, which it adds to the 20 hectares developed in partnership with the Mule family near Grasse, Reuters reported.
The jasmine crop is harvested from July to October and a solid core of 40-45 seasonal workers return here each year, Ms Muel said. They are joined by Bulgarian families, for whom the salary is attractive, as they receive the minimum wage for France, which is four times higher than in their country, as well as bonuses for good work, AFP notes.
“It takes patience, dexterity and flexibility,” said Fabrice, 56, Colette’s husband.
“The flower is so light, put it in your hand and you won’t even feel it,” he added.
The man strokes a bush with his hand and adds: “You can see all the stages until the buds reach full maturity. The ones we will pick in 15 days have not yet formed.”
Underground drip irrigation underfoot allows him to save 20 percent water. In the distance is the Tanron massif, where the eucalyptus plantations are painted in a magnificent shade of green.
At the exit of the mansion is a factory, where in stainless steel tanks the hundreds of molecules that make up the aroma of jasmine are extracted by repeatedly dipping the flowers without crushing them with your fingers in isohexane. It is a chemical solution that is not carcinogenic to those who use it, and three years ago it replaced hexane.
And if Grass has preserved his know-how, which has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2018, his annual jasmine production is limited to just 13 tonnes, most of which are produced by the Mul family for Chanel.
Jasmine from Grass continues to be perhaps the most important ingredient in Chanel No. 5, confirms the “nose” of Chanel Olivier Polge.
Appearing in 1921 and innovative with its offensive composition of 80 ingredients, not reminiscent of any particular flower, No. 5 is Chanel’s bestseller, along with the last two creations – Coco Mademoiselle (Coco Mademoiselle) and Chance (Chance).
