Lunasa

The name kumquat comes from a Cantonese word that means golden tangerine - and as this suggests the first reference to these powerful little fruits is from 12th-century China. Our kumquats are grown in Brazil, where the rind is cold-pressed while fresh.

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.

Initialement cultivée aux Pays-Bas au XVIIIe siècle, la Rose de Mai de Ffern est aujourd’hui cultivée au Maroc. Cueillies traditionnellement uniquement au mois de mai, les roses donnent des pétales qui sont immédiatement soumis à une extraction au solvant, afin d’obtenir une cire foncée et parfumée qui peut ensuite être transformée en absolu ou en huile.

Lorsqu’on pense à l’absolu de foin, on pense d’abord aux climats tempérés. Cependant, la plante dont il est extrait vient en fait de l’Arctique. Le foin d’odeur Hierochloe alpina pousse à l’état sauvage dans la toundra du cercle polaire, en particulier sur l’île norvégienne de Spitsbergen, au Svalbard.

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’.

The La Faces are a third-generation citrus farming family, growing our lemons on the northeastern tip of Sicily - just across the 3km straight of Messina and in sight of our bergamot on the Calabrian shores. The fruit is picked by hand, and the rinds cold pressed on site.

Our key lime rind comes from Mexico, one of the world's primary growing regions for key lime. We have two types of pure key lime rind oil in the Ffern palette - the distilled oil is sparkling, green and zesty, while the cold pressed oil is has a terpenic edge, giving it the true scent of just cut limes.

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.⁠ ⁠

Ffern mandarins are harvested in the months before ripening. Whilst still green, they are cold pressed on site to preserve their delicate top notes. The scent is notably sharper and more floral than their ripe counterparts.

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.

Cultivés sur les collines calabraises surplombant la mer Ionienne, les fruits sont récoltés à la main et l'huile est extraite sur place. La famille La Face a planté son premier bergamotier dans les années 1930 et n'a cessé depuis lors de perfectionner l'art de la production d'huiles d'agrumes.

Ffern’s bay oil is steam distilled from the leaves of Pimenta Racemosa (also known as the Bayberry or Bay Rum tree). This species from the myrtle family (Myrtaceae) is native to the Caribbean region.

Le géranium de Ffern, Pelargonium graveolens, est également connu sous le nom de géranium rosat. La légende raconte que cette fleur est apparue lorsque le prophète Mahomet, après s'être baigné dans une rivière, posa sa chemise sur une branche de mauve pour la faire sécher. La mauve fut si honorée qu'elle se transforma en ce magnifique géranium rosat.

Distillée à partir des feuilles et des branches du camphrier, l'huile de bois de Hô dégage une note boisée légère et très agréable, aux accents floraux et d'agrumes. Le bois de rose étant malheureusement menacé d'extinction, le bois de Hô est souvent utilisé comme alternative durable en parfumerie.

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.

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’.

Notre bois de cèdre rouge (également appelé genévrier rouge) est cultivé et récolté en Virginie, aux États-Unis, d'où il est originaire. L’huile est distillée à la vapeur directement à partir des chutes de bois issues de l’ébénisterie. Elle partage les notes boisées classiques du cèdre de l’Atlas, tout en apportant une touche caractéristique rappelant le crayon.

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.

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.