Caraway - Soup

Caraway essence is one of the raw materials that are widely used to create sparkling top notes for perfumes. Although it's characteristic scent is considered too herbal and sharp to create a perfume only dedicated to this spice, you could find it very often at a mild dose in most of the new perfume releases. We usually work with it in 10 % solution, and only add 0,03 grams over 1 kg of perfume concentration. The distinct scent matches really nicely Hay absolute, White Pepper oil and Ginger essence among others.

The herb ( carum carvi ) originated in Asia, but now is cultivated mainly in Africa, Norther and Eastern Europe.

Also known as Meadow Cumin, it is a very old and well known spice, commonly used as early as Stone Age. Caraway Seeds are very popular in our days as well, particularly in Eastern Europe and in the Indian subcontinent. On research, so many medicinal properties of the seeds have been narrated that it is said to be the cure for nearly all diseases!

The greatest benefit of Caraway oil lie in its calming and soothing effect on the nerves and the digestive system, it also helps with respiratory problems, in fighting urinary infections and about a dozen skin-related problems. On the top of that, it makes the skin bright and fair if added to your body lotion!

You can benefit from its healing properties by inhaling caraway oil with the help of a vaporizer or a burner, or even by just simply diluting a few drops in the bath. In order to keep your stomach healthy, and maximize the miraculous advantages of caraway, it is the best to eat it either raw, on scrambled eggs e.g. or by preparing the following traditional Hungarian soup, which softens the taste of caraway seeds, and is a great idea to serve as an entrée with crunchy bread pieces.

Ingredients:

- 3 table spoon of oil

- 4 table spoon of flour

- 2 coffee spoon of caraway seeds

- 2 coffee spoon of paprika

- 1 onion

- 1 liter of water

- salt, according to your taste ( I usually put 2 coffee spoon. )

You make the "roux" from the oil and flower, when it is of golden color already, you add the caraway seeds and you stir the whole mix for a minute or two. Then, you take the cooking-pot away from the stove, leaving it to cool for ca. 2 mins. Once it is cooled, you add the paprika, you place the cooking-pot back to the fire only when paprika is mixed already well with the roux and the seeds. You pour 1 liter of water, then add salt and a peeled onion inside the soup in full, no need to cut it in, you will take this out at the end, before serving. Starting from boiling, you will need 15 mins for your soup to be ready to eat.

Enjoy the unique taste and its marvelous medicinal effects!

I heart Mate absolute

I am working on a tea composition series that will be applied in candles, a Japanese client ordered 10 different tea notes, such as black tea, green tea, red tea, white tea, fruit tea, tea with rose and a few infusions with tea notes, like mint and thyme, etc.

To start with a nice and stable tea note in a candle, you need mate absolute, which is though extremely expensive, enough to dose it small to have the effect ( and the greenish color ) of tea.

So I took a massive amount of mate, placed it in a glass jar and put all that into a hot water bath for a few minutes to be able to use it in a more liquid form. You are only supposed to heat it a little bit and always at very moderate temperature ( 50 degree Celsius at max ), it is the common rule for all the natural raw materials that are waxy, creamy or solid on room temperature.

In the meantime I went to my Maître to show him my passion fruit accord ( passion fruit is apparently the new big hit! ). Discussing the perfect passion fruit scent got brutally interrupted by me smelling burned mate from 3 offices away ( mine ).

I forgot that yesterday I left the perfumer stove on its maximum ( 200 degree Celsius ) for sterilizing my metallic spatulas.

I tried to save some of the mate, but as I touched the boiling material with a wooden stick, a splash of it directly landed on my shoulder. I was really shocked  (= I was swearing in all languages possible... ) but simultaneously felt grateful due to the fact that it didn't come on my face.

Just recently I am thinking on getting a perfumery-related tattoo, the expression of "nice ink" keeps echoing in my head. I was more into Latin names of raw materials, but the little rose heart-shaped burn on my shoulder, caused by mate overheat, will do just for now...

Olfactive Flashback VI.

Chestnut squash, after you took out its seeds, smells exactly like my father's skin. It is earthy, somewhat sweet and there is a tiny fruity note hiding right "behind" the earty note.

Olfactive Flashback V.

I arrived home after a long day of work. In my head, there are still thousands of variations of raw materials chasing each other, I need to find the perfect balance between blackberry absolute and osmanthus oil, in oder to recreate the scent of "apricot jam made by grandma" as one of the clients requested. Although I am wearing gloves for making samples, the common "perfumery laboratory" scent is ingrained to my hair and clothes. I am trying to put my car to the middle of the tiny parking place, takes me more than 4 trials to get it right. I hate raining. I hate umbrellas.

I step out of my car, hoping this time there won't be any dog poor around. Before the door would close behind me, I have a vision of me at the age of 6 with my family, sitting on the stairs of the veranda of my grandmother's house. It takes a bit of time, until I realize that it is a scent that my brain reacts to. I smell aquatic. Sure, it is the rain. But I also smell sweet. I smell light red too, if it makes any sense at all. No, not pink, it's light red. And I feel exactly how I felt back on the veranda surrounded with my family. Security. Careless. Playful. Eager. Greedy.

My brain is quicker than my nose, and the answer comes in a form of a picture again, I see myself spitting little black tear-shaped seeds around the stairs. Watermelon.

I can smell a wonderfully ripe, juicy watermelon around at 7 pm in my open air parking lot, in the middle of March.

I want to find the source. A big part of the juicy-green scent would come from the rain, but there is something extra to it. Something that just turns a natural early spring shower to a perfect imitation of a real fruit that is not available in this region until mid-May earliest.

I sniff around like a hunting dog, hoping that no neighbors are coming by and that cute fellow perfumer guy, who lives across the parking, wouldn't look out of his window accidentally. Just a few meters away, around the corner, opposite to the direction of the entrance door, here she is, the ripe watermelon.... in the form of a Mimosa tree. In full bloom. It's aquatic scent multiplied by a thousand due to the raining. As I get close to it the watermelon fades away and it gives it's place to the concentrated powderiness. It's fragile branches are bending over me as if golden rain would fall on me at any time. The watermelon scent is like an aura around the tree, from 5 to 15 meters. I wish I could just take notes. I wish my nose would automatically translate all the isolates and aromatic compounds into a formula and I could have access to this scent anytime, anywhere. I miss my family. Plus I am craving watermelon now.

Before I could note anything in my head apart from helional, the wind takes away the scent leaving only my memories and my sweet-sour mood.