Autumn 24

We work with saffron growers in Kozani, in Northern Greece, which is the only area in Greece where saffron is grown. It’s considered to be the best in the world - hence its DPO (Designated Protection of Origin). Our saffron crocuses are grown by a cooperative of small farmers over about 500 acres.

We harvest our oakwood from the forests of the Allier region in central France, where production is carefully regulated to ensure sustainable harvesting. Our CO2 extraction method preserves the natural aroma of the wood without degrading its components.

Our star anise is grown in the mountains of Guangxi, China, where fertile soil and a subtropical climate have long nurtured this aromatic spice. For generations, farmers here have used traditional methods to yield fruits of the highest quality. Once harvested, these are steam distilled at source.

Our neroli oil is extracted from the blossom of bitter Seville Orange trees on Cape Bon in northern Tunisia. The blossoms are hand-picked in the spring at daybreak, once dew has formed. The flowers are immediately pressed and distilled.

Ffern caraway seeds are harvested in late summer and early autumn in Oldambt, the Netherlands, where high quality and flavoursome caraway seeds have been cultivated since the Middle Ages. They are meticulously dried, crushed and expertly steam distilled.

Benzoin Siam is a balsamic resin taken from the bark of the styrax tree, growing wild in the Annamite mountains of Laos. In September, a v-shaped cut is made in the tree bark, and brittle white ‘tears’ of benzoin resin accumulate over three-weeks. This process is known as ‘tapping’.

Grown on Calabrian hills overlooking the Ionian Sea, the fruit is harvested by hand and the oil extracted at source. The La Face family planted their first bergamot in the 1930s and have been mastering the craft of producing citrus oils ever since.

The frilled, lacy umbels of wild carrot create that pale, high summer froth along hedgerows, in meadows and coastal dunes - and though their roots are edible, they are not as palatable as the plant's familiar cultivar. A sweet, earthy, woody oil can be extracted from the plant's seeds.

Davana belongs to the silver-leafed Artemisia family, and many tiny yellow flowers grow against its soft greenery. Native to India, the dried herb has a sweet, dried-fruit aroma that is reminiscent of tea.

Our Jamaica pimento is harvested by tree climbers. As iron knife blades can poison the tree, the twigs and branches are snapped by hand and dropped. These branches are flailed to loosen the berries, which are sun dried for seven days before being crushed and distilled at source.

Jasmine grandiflorum is one of the most sought after ingredients in perfumery. To make a kilogram of the absolute takes eight million flowers - these delicate, night-flowering blooms are hand-picked at dawn between June and September in the Indian Himalayas, where the flowers are sacred.

Most commonly referred to as blazing star or gayfeather, liatrix releases a complex, rich, nutty aroma. Liatrix is a genus of flowering plants in the boneset tribe of the sunflower family, which are perennials native to North America. They survive the winter in the form of corms.

Our rock rose grows wild on the plains of Almaden de la Plata outside Seville, Spain. In late summer, the leafy stems of the plant are sickle harvested and plunged into hot carbonated water. This mixture is distilled to obtain a honeyed, amber resin - labdanum.

Our nutmeg grows on the Banda islands of eastern Indonesia. The fruit is harvested with handheld telescopic pickers and left to dry in the shade - the seed oil is then steam distilled at source.

Scentless when fresh and native to Asia, patchouli is a member of the Lamiaceae or Mint family. Our patchouli is hand-harvested on the Indonesian Island of Java. It’s then dried in the shade and briefly fermented, helping to break down the cell walls before the copper still hydrodistillation.

Olibanum (also known as frankincense) is a resin taken from the bark of the Boswellia tree. At Ffern we use Boswellia carterii. The trees grow wild along the Gulf of Aden in northern Somalia, and the resin ‘tears’ are harvested by local collectors over a period of weeks.⁠ ⁠

We chose Haitian vetiver over Javan competitors for its fresh, sparkling notes, and because the root provides sustainable employment for south Haitian communities. One year after planting, the roots are excavated, washed, cut, and sun-dried before they can be steam distilled at source.

Our red cedar wood (also known as red juniper) is grown and harvested in its native Virginia, USA. The oil is steam distilled directly from a cabinet maker’s offcuts. It shares the classic woody notes of atlas cedar, but introduces a distinctive ‘pencil’ facet.

Our coriander is grown by farming cooperatives in the famously fertile soil of the Central Black Earth region of Ukraine on Russia’s western border. The entire fruit is harvested late in the summer, and distilled on site with a traditional steam-based method.

Myrrh is a bitter-tasting gum taken from the small thorn tree Commiphora myrrha. These flowering trees can be found amid dry, rocky hills - at Ffern we harvest our myrrh in the highlands of northern Somalia.

Our blood orange rind comes from the sun-drenched groves of Sicily, where the island’s unique microclimate, with its volcanic soil and temperate coastal breezes, create the perfect conditions for these distinctive fruits to grow.

Grapefruit oil is cold pressed from the fruit’s golden rind. Native to the Caribbean, grapefruit is thought to have been born from an accidental union of pomelo, the largest citrus fruit, and sweet orange. An eighteenth-century Welsh sailor described it as one of the ‘seven wonders of Barbados’.