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10/31/2021
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A Nightmare of Synthetic Saffron
Saffron.
Let's brainstorm. What do you think of?
The nursery rhyme? Saffron makes the cake gel...? Or are you thinking of paella?
I can think of a Pakistani student who served me a really huge amount of "saffron" a few years ago. Probably 300 grams. In a cellophane bag. "Guaranteed real saffron" from the homeland. Her words.
I wondered at first about the red color. And about the fact that no smell emanated from the bag, even after opening it. Upon closer examination, the saffron turned out to be a plastic thread mixture. Yes, you read correctly, it was plastic threads. Of course, I disposed of them correctly in the yellow bag.
A kilogram of saffron threads costs between 2,000 and 7,000 euros, depending on the quality.
100.000 blossoms have to be harvested by hand for one kilo. 90% of the worldwide production comes from Iran. There are about 150,000 people in the cultivation and harvest of saffron employed.
Why is this interesting for us in the context of a perfume review?
Well, I would like to state - once and for all - that there is almost no natural saffron in perfume production. Such a perfume would be prohibitively expensive! (And would stain extremely orange everywhere... ).
What is usually called "saffron" in perfumes is almost always synthetic. Mostly it is "Safraleine", a molecule made by Givaudan, which has been on the market since 2004. "Safranal" extracted from real saffron, has been very severely restricted by the IFRA .
Silvaine Délacourte writes about it:
"Natural saffron is not allowed in perfumery because it contains safranol, a component that causes allergies. Safraleine by Givaudan is a synthetic molecule. "
Is anyone surprised by this now? I suspect most perfume lovers know that there is no real saffron in the fragrances that smell so spicy and bitter.
Some time ago I even sent a small bag of real Iranian saffron to a Bavarian city (sorry, Hasi, that it was only such a small amount, but you know, the stuff is expensive...), because I really wanted my friend to get an idea of how "the real thing" smells.
There's no way saffron from Iran smells like the stuff advertised here for marketing purposes in the fragrance "The Glove Maker from Iran."
What kind of images go through your head?
Or what kind of BIlder should come to mind?
An oriental bazaar, preferably the one in Isfahan. In a corner of his shop sits a man with a well-cut face, his deep brown almond-shaped eyes resting on his work, a piece of tanned leather he is shaping into gloves. The scent of saffron, aromatic and incomparable, THE scent of our land, rises, for beside the man is a small bowl of Shole Sard, a saffron rice pudding....
Ah, comme je suis romantique, toi aussi, Monsieur Le Gantier?
I didn't meet a glove maker in all of Isfahan, but surely Jimmy Bodin has been there longer than I have and knows his stuff better....
When I tested the fragrance a few days ago, I was on a very unromantic mission. My daughter and I needed to get something done at the local hardware store. We are an all-female household, don't have a glovemaker or any other decent handyman up our sleeves, and have to replace defective shelves ourselves. Even on the way to the hardware store, my daughter said that we didn't have any plywood in the car yet. Why does it smell like formaldehyde and grit anyway? It was the ultra-expensive, Iranian "Gantier", which burned so in the nose. Freshly sprayed on, a real hardware store lockdown surrogate scent.
I think it's an overdose of artificial saffron. That's what it smells like. And I totally sympathize with anyone who finds saffron in perfumes gruesome most of the time. I often feel the same way. Especially when the full blast is popped in.
But on the other hand, I don't want to come across as a synthetic hater. Therefore, a little food for thought on the subject of "aromachemicals".
On 10/14/21, "The Perfume Society" published an interview with Frédéric Malle.
He commented in the context of the launch of his new fragrance "Synthetic Jungle" :
"Interesting perfumery really started at the end of the 19th century, because there were some synthetics available. Perfumery as we know it today has big doses of synthetics, and furthermore, if you want to recreate nature, you need synthetic. I love nature, it needs to be preserved, don't get me wrong, but this idea that everything from nature is great and everything from man is awful is a kind of new fascism".
Clear and definite words from Mr. Malle , especially at the end.
His new fragrance is called "Synthetic Jungle" precisely because he professes synthetic molecules. This is an honest approach.
The "Gantier d'Iran", on the other hand, deludes us into believing that he has used real saffron, which cannot be the case at all. I am extremely annoyed by this marketing ploy. But I have now probably explained enough.
Thanks to the great Gandix, which always provides me with exciting bottlings.
We talked about saffron yesterday and both came to the conclusion that "Safran Troublant" by "L'Artisan Parfumeur" is the most beautiful saffron scent we know. There we are - despite all the differences - finally completely agree.
The Iranian glove maker can really pack against "Safran Troublant"
Let's brainstorm. What do you think of?
The nursery rhyme? Saffron makes the cake gel...? Or are you thinking of paella?
I can think of a Pakistani student who served me a really huge amount of "saffron" a few years ago. Probably 300 grams. In a cellophane bag. "Guaranteed real saffron" from the homeland. Her words.
I wondered at first about the red color. And about the fact that no smell emanated from the bag, even after opening it. Upon closer examination, the saffron turned out to be a plastic thread mixture. Yes, you read correctly, it was plastic threads. Of course, I disposed of them correctly in the yellow bag.
A kilogram of saffron threads costs between 2,000 and 7,000 euros, depending on the quality.
100.000 blossoms have to be harvested by hand for one kilo. 90% of the worldwide production comes from Iran. There are about 150,000 people in the cultivation and harvest of saffron employed.
Why is this interesting for us in the context of a perfume review?
Well, I would like to state - once and for all - that there is almost no natural saffron in perfume production. Such a perfume would be prohibitively expensive! (And would stain extremely orange everywhere... ).
What is usually called "saffron" in perfumes is almost always synthetic. Mostly it is "Safraleine", a molecule made by Givaudan, which has been on the market since 2004. "Safranal" extracted from real saffron, has been very severely restricted by the IFRA .
Silvaine Délacourte writes about it:
"Natural saffron is not allowed in perfumery because it contains safranol, a component that causes allergies. Safraleine by Givaudan is a synthetic molecule. "
Is anyone surprised by this now? I suspect most perfume lovers know that there is no real saffron in the fragrances that smell so spicy and bitter.
Some time ago I even sent a small bag of real Iranian saffron to a Bavarian city (sorry, Hasi, that it was only such a small amount, but you know, the stuff is expensive...), because I really wanted my friend to get an idea of how "the real thing" smells.
There's no way saffron from Iran smells like the stuff advertised here for marketing purposes in the fragrance "The Glove Maker from Iran."
What kind of images go through your head?
Or what kind of BIlder should come to mind?
An oriental bazaar, preferably the one in Isfahan. In a corner of his shop sits a man with a well-cut face, his deep brown almond-shaped eyes resting on his work, a piece of tanned leather he is shaping into gloves. The scent of saffron, aromatic and incomparable, THE scent of our land, rises, for beside the man is a small bowl of Shole Sard, a saffron rice pudding....
Ah, comme je suis romantique, toi aussi, Monsieur Le Gantier?
I didn't meet a glove maker in all of Isfahan, but surely Jimmy Bodin has been there longer than I have and knows his stuff better....
When I tested the fragrance a few days ago, I was on a very unromantic mission. My daughter and I needed to get something done at the local hardware store. We are an all-female household, don't have a glovemaker or any other decent handyman up our sleeves, and have to replace defective shelves ourselves. Even on the way to the hardware store, my daughter said that we didn't have any plywood in the car yet. Why does it smell like formaldehyde and grit anyway? It was the ultra-expensive, Iranian "Gantier", which burned so in the nose. Freshly sprayed on, a real hardware store lockdown surrogate scent.
I think it's an overdose of artificial saffron. That's what it smells like. And I totally sympathize with anyone who finds saffron in perfumes gruesome most of the time. I often feel the same way. Especially when the full blast is popped in.
But on the other hand, I don't want to come across as a synthetic hater. Therefore, a little food for thought on the subject of "aromachemicals".
On 10/14/21, "The Perfume Society" published an interview with Frédéric Malle.
He commented in the context of the launch of his new fragrance "Synthetic Jungle" :
"Interesting perfumery really started at the end of the 19th century, because there were some synthetics available. Perfumery as we know it today has big doses of synthetics, and furthermore, if you want to recreate nature, you need synthetic. I love nature, it needs to be preserved, don't get me wrong, but this idea that everything from nature is great and everything from man is awful is a kind of new fascism".
Clear and definite words from Mr. Malle , especially at the end.
His new fragrance is called "Synthetic Jungle" precisely because he professes synthetic molecules. This is an honest approach.
The "Gantier d'Iran", on the other hand, deludes us into believing that he has used real saffron, which cannot be the case at all. I am extremely annoyed by this marketing ploy. But I have now probably explained enough.
Thanks to the great Gandix, which always provides me with exciting bottlings.
We talked about saffron yesterday and both came to the conclusion that "Safran Troublant" by "L'Artisan Parfumeur" is the most beautiful saffron scent we know. There we are - despite all the differences - finally completely agree.
The Iranian glove maker can really pack against "Safran Troublant"
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