When it comes to perfume, most people instantly think of famous French labels such as Chanel N°5, Miss Dior, Yves Saint Lauren's [sic] Opium and Guerlain's Shalimar. However, likely few would know that an essential ingredient in many of these iconic brands likely hails from a small village in Egypt.
Shubra Beloula El-Sakhaweya, located about 97km north of Cairo and simply referred to as Shubra Beloula, is responsible for more than half of the world's production of jasmine. These blossoms yield a classic feminine floral scent found in many perfumes, making jasmine a "foundation stone in perfumery".
— BBC Travel goes to Shubra Beloula. Read more in Shubra Beloula: The tiny Egyptian village few know.
Robin, there’s a typo in the first sentence. It should be Saint Laurent; the “T” is missing.
Thank you, I should have noticed!
No prob!
And Chanel’s farm outside of Grasse is supposed to generate another large fraction of jasmine, yes? The ingredients for the perfumer’s arts are rare and tenuous, aren’t they? I remember reading on Mandy Aftel’s website that she stopped making one of her early scents because the production site for some ingredient was lost in the war raging along the Syrian/ Turkish border. Some family farm was destroyed in the fighting, I suppose. Here in Michigan, they used to farm commercial amounts of peppermint. My husband can remember the odor, as a young child, of some of the last farmers’ distilleries cooking out the oil, which needed to be done soon after cutting. I wonder where the commercial peppermint oil is gown and distilled now? Maybe an entrepreneurial opportunity for some enterprising young organic farmers looking for a cash crop that will pay the bills.
I believe Chanel has about 30 hectares growing jasmine in Grasse. I assumed they were holding those fields at least partly for PR purposes.
Egypt has somewhere between 250 and 400 hectares depending on what source you check.
The numbers I see for India are even higher (a 2007 book said they had over 6000 hectares under cultivation, I see other figures much higher and much lower and I have no idea).
I think most of the world’s peppermint oil still comes from the US, but much less from Michigan…
http://absolutemichigan.com/michigan/the-last-barn-at-mentha-the-decline-of-michigans-mint-farming/
https://99wfmk.com/menthamichigan/
And peppermint oil production was huge in my part of NY State (no longer the case): https://www.lifeinthefingerlakes.com/minty-history-lyons/