Winter 24

Originally developed in eighteenth-century Holland, Ffern’s Rose de Mai is grown in Morocco. Traditionally picked only in the month of May, our rose petals undergo solvent extraction immediately, to produce a dark, fragrant wax that can be processed into an absolute or oil.

Juniper berries are not in fact berries, but the seed cone produced by female juniper trees. To make juniper oil, these seed cones are plucked once a year, then dried and ground before undergoing steam distillation. We source our juniper oil in Slovenia.

Our balsam fir absolute is extracted from wild-grown needles east of Calgary, in Canada. The scent is often compared to that of jam: intense, very long lasting, sweet, fresh and foresty all at once.

Eucalyptus is a genus of over seven hundred species in the Myrtle family, Myrtaceae. We harvest our blue gum eucalyptus on the Yunnan Plateau, China; the essential oil is created through steam distillation of the leaves.

Our palmarosa grows wild in the Himalayas and in the Radjmahal Mountains on India’s Afghan border, where it is harvested by indigenous tribes. The grasses are then dried for a week to increase the essential oil yield before undergoing steam distillation.

We press our sweet orange oil from the rind of cold-pressed Hamlin oranges grown in the mineral-rich state of Minas Gerais in Brazil. Hamlin orange trees are among the most tolerant of cold and their fruit comes early, the season beginning in October.

Peppermint is a cross between watermint and spearmint, a familiar sparkly note with a slight peppery edge. We partner with farmers in India's northerly Mint Regions to grow and steam distill our high grade peppermint oil.

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.

Ffern’s tarragon is grown in the South of France. The plants do not produce fertile seeds - instead the roots are hand-split in early spring. In June, the leaves are trimmed and the oil distilled. Our variety has a distinctive aniseed facet, with an earthy undertone.⁠

Believed to come from the Latin ros marinus, which means ‘dew of the sea’, rosemary grows wild in abundance on Mediterranean coastlines. At Ffern, we work with a local firm to bid on wild harvesting rights, and extract the oil at source.

Grown in Northeastern Madagascar, our clove trees are lush with reddish brown buds which burst into many-headed white flowers. It is from these buds that our clove oil is extracted - using a water distillation process.

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.

Our lavender is grown by a network of family farms in the hills of Provence, 600-1500m above sea level. This much-loved herb is particularly beloved of Provençals, who have been growing it for centuries. It is often called the soul of the region.

Hand-picked at night to preserve intensity, our jasmine sambac is native to the Eastern Himalayas. Also known as Arabian jasmine, jasmine sambac has a long history of connection with Persia and the Middle East. The oil is extracted at source using Joseph Robert’ solvent extraction process.

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.

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.