Pages

Friday, June 3, 2011

Spring scent experiment, part 2

My two little jars containing rowan blossoms, mentioned and depicted in the blog post Spring scent experiment, have been waiting in my liquor cabinet for a few days. Every now and than I've opened the jars and pondered on the smell inside. It's very hard to describe. The scent of rowan blossoms is pretty funky to start with and after maturation it is now sweeter, fruitier and somehow oilier and wider. If I'm going to try to explain, think about fermented honeysuckle that's on the verge of going bad and you'd be somewhere in the right neighbourhood.

A scent like this might need something fresher and lighter to go with it, so I've been thinking about using green or citrus notes to add a bit of freshness. I've also been thinking about the old chefs proverb: "Grows together, goes together". Great to keep in mind while composing a meal, it will be interesting to see how it works when composing a perfume.

Yesterday we were having strawberries with cream for dessert and I collected the green little cut-offs from the strawberries and put into alcohol. I was hoping to capture the "greenness" that should rightfully be in them. However, the result is more on the fruity side so far. An idea I have is to pair the strawberry booze and rowan blossom extract with nettles. Or maybe I might jump on the dessert bandwagon and go for vanilla instead? Hm, I'm waiting for my cold to pass before I decide... 

About the oil, I'm thinking of pairing the rowan with lemon and spices, heading towards lemon gingerbread. Might not be so "springy" but I've a feeling that the oil will carry the spices well and the lemon will mostly just be a contrast. I'm getting inspiration from South Indian food where it's common, when finishing a dish, to fry spices in a good helping of oil and then pouring the oil on top of your dish. Again, when my cold is getting better I'll be ready to start the real experimentation. God, I'm looking forward to that!

No comments:

Post a Comment