How Do You Extract Perfume From Jonquils?
Jonquils, the most strongly scented flowers in the narcissus/daffodil family, lend themselves beautifully to fragrance making. For centuries, perfume houses have used the enfleurage method to extract scent from the jonquil and other flowers. In enfleurage, fresh flower petals infuse some type of fat or lard, which then gets steeped in alcohol and later removed, leaving behind heavenly-scented perfume. You don’t have to be a French perfumer to enact this alchemical feat. Enfleurage is easily done at home, provided you have access to armloads of jonquils over the course of several days. Using a clean spatula, spread layers of fat on two ridged, clean panes of glass or pie plates (the underside of one pie plate and the interior of the other). The fat can be rendered animal fat, Crisco, or jojoba oil thickened with beeswax. Strip your jonquils of their petals and press the petals into both panes of glass. Lay the petals as close together as possible in a single layer. Press the two panes t
