ENFLEURAGE

What is enfleurage?

According to the abstract of Soe’eib et al. (2016), enfleurage is an essential oil extraction process using cold fat, in which the scent of flowers is absorbed by the fat. The review by Kliszcz et al. (2021) describes it as an extraction of volatile substances from plants with cold animal fat such as lard or tallow, the plant material being removed after a few days and replaced with fresh material, several times. In that description, the fat saturated with essential oils is finally mixed with alcohol, in which the aromatic substances dissolve, the fat is separated off, and evaporating the alcohol solution gives an absolute.

Where does the technique come from?

According to the review by Yara-Varón et al. (2017), the enfleurage developed in Grasse (France) in the 18th century used odourless animal fats to capture fragrant substances exuded by plants, which led to high-grade concentrates for delicate floral materials such as jasmine and tuberose. The review calls the method out-dated and states that its fats were extensively superseded by petroleum-based solvents (for example hexane or benzene) in the 19th century. According to the review by Kliszcz et al. (2021), cold and hot enfleurage was abandoned and replaced with solvent extraction, which the review describes as more effective, using ethyl alcohol, low-boiling hydrocarbons, aliphatic esters or florasol (1,1,1,2-tetrafluoroethane, spelled “terafluoroethane” in the review).

The introduction of Soe’eib et al. (2016) describes a process in which an odourless, bland, fixed oil or fat is spread in a thin layer on glass plates, and flower petals are laid on it for a few hours, then removed and replaced with a new layer, several times. Once the fat has absorbed as much fragrance as possible, the oil “may” be removed by extraction with alcohol; the authors write that this process, known as enfleurage, was formerly used extensively in the production of perfumes and pomades.

Chen et al. (2026) write that, for food-grade absolutes, including osmanthus, jasmine and rose, current production largely depends on animal fat enfleurage, the absolutes being extracted with animal-derived lipids; the sentence names no country or market.

What are the pomade and the absolute?

According to Rakthaworn et al. (2009), the floral scents held in the wax, called the pomade, were extracted with ethanol, and evaporating the ethanol left what the authors call the “absolute de enfleurage”. Punjee et al. (2009) describe the scented fat, or pomade, being mixed with alcohol to separate its aromatic substances, the solvent then being removed in a vacuum evaporator to leave the absolute. Soe’eib et al. (2016) use the word for another product: in their study, the pomade is the filtrate of alcohol and essential oils obtained after the fat is extracted with alcohol, and it “can” be purified by vacuum distillation.

How did three studies published in 2009 carry out enfleurage?

According to Rakthaworn et al. (2009), flowers of the double-flower variety of tuberose, Polianthes tuberosa L., were extracted by cold or hot enfleurage, or by solvent extraction with hexane or petroleum ether. Punjee et al. (2009) compared the extraction of scents and essential oils from the flowers of Magnolia × alba (DC.) Figlar (“Michelia alba D.C.” in the source) by water, steam and water-steam distillation, by cold enfleurage with palm stearin, by hot enfleurage with palm oil, and by hexane and petroleum ether extraction. Pitpiangchan et al. (2009) studied several extraction methods on the flowers of Plumeria obtusa L.: water, steam and water-steam distillation, hexane and petroleum ether extraction, and cold and hot enfleurage.

Tuberose (Rakthaworn et al., 2009)

For cold enfleurage, palm wax was heated to 80 °C for 2 h and poured into rectangular glass trays, at 100 ml per tray. Once the fat had cooled and turned to wax at room temperature, the tuberose flowers were laid on the wax in each tray, covered with another waxed tray, and replaced with fresh flowers every 24 h. In this passage (p. 205), the source names the fat “palm wax”, then “palm oil” that had turned to wax at room temperature.

For hot enfleurage, the tuberose flowers were put into 400 ml of palm oil warmed to 60 °C, warmed for 30 min, then cooled to room temperature. After a night at about 8-10 °C, the palm oil was warmed to 60 °C again. The previous flowers were then filtered out and replaced with new ones, the steps being repeated with 300, 400, 500, 600, 700 and 800 g of flowers depending on the treatment. The scent was extracted from the pomade by the same method as in cold enfleurage; the passage ends with a reference to Gupta (1952).

Magnolia × alba (Punjee et al., 2009)

In the methods section (p. 198), 100 ml of palm stearin was melted at 80 °C and spread over two framed glass sheets for cold enfleurage. The flowers were placed on one coated sheet and covered with the other; after approximately one day they were removed and replaced with fresh flowers, until the fat was saturated with floral scent. The results section (p. 199) expresses the saturation point of the palm stearin as 1500 g of flowers per 200 ml. The abstract (p. 197) gives the same ratio for the fat, 1,500 g of flower per 200 ml.

For hot enfleurage, 400 ml of palm oil was heated to 60 °C for 30 min, in six treatments of 300, 350, 400, 450, 500 and 550 g of flowers per 400 ml of palm oil. The mixture was then cooled and kept overnight in a refrigerator, and the oil was agitated for several days, then filtered and extracted with alcohol to obtain the absolute, a protocol the authors say they applied from Gupta (1952).

Plumeria obtusa (Pitpiangchan et al., 2009)

For cold enfleurage, 200 ml of palm stearin was coated on a glass frame and left to cool and harden; 2 kg of fresh flowers were laid on it, the scent components diffusing into the fatty layer until the frangipani scent was discernible. For hot enfleurage, 100 g of fresh flowers were soaked in 400 ml of hot palm oil, heated at 60-70 °C for 30 min, then left to cool before a night in a refrigerator. The floral scent in the pomade from each method was extracted with cold absolute alcohol, and the extracts were obtained after evaporation to dryness; the passage ends with a reference to Ernest et al. (1947).

How did a 2016 study prepare its fat?

In the study by Soe’eib et al. (2016), the adsorbent was prepared at laboratory scale by mixing vegetable fat and animal fat in a 1:1 ratio. The mixture was heated to 60 °C (printed “60 0C”, with a superscript zero, in the source) with stirring for 15 minutes, then benzoate was added and the mixture stirred for 2 hours.

The free fatty acid content of the fat mixture, determined by titration, was 0.0068 % at a vegetable/animal fat ratio of 1:1, and 0.0072 % and 0.075 % at ratios of 1:2 and 2:3. The bench-scale test used the 1:1 ratio.

A 50 cm x 40 cm x 5 cm chassis was smeared with a layer of fat, and 1 kg of flowers (jasmine, rose and frangipani in the study, common names without binomial) was placed on it for 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 or 11 days, the flowers being replaced with fresh ones every 24 hours. At the end of the contact time, the fat was extracted with alcohol at an alcohol/fat ratio of 1:1, kept for 24 hours in a refrigerator and separated on filter paper.

What did the 2009 studies measure?

Yields of Magnolia × alba absolutes

According to the abstract of Punjee et al. (2009), the percentage yields of Magnolia × alba absolutes obtained from cold and hot enfleurage, hexane and petroleum ether extractions at saturation point (1,500 g of flower per 200 ml of fat, 400 g per 400 ml of oil, 200 and 150 g/L of solvent) were 0.3511, 2.7506, 0.0457 and 0.0497 %, respectively. In the results, the palm oil “could” absorb close yields of 2.7506 and 2.7962 % at 400 and 450 g per 400 ml, which, according to the authors, implies a saturation point of the palm oil near 400 g per 400 ml. The authors report that hot enfleurage gave a higher yield of scent than cold enfleurage, “probably” because of the heat used in the extraction process. They add that the absolutes of both methods contained palm wax and palm oil, carried over by the ethanol used in the process. According to the authors, the oil was hard to remove, and the yields were, in their words, “quite different”.

Tuberose absolutes

According to Rakthaworn et al. (2009), the absolute yields of cold enfleurage were lower than those of hot enfleurage in all treatments, which the authors attribute “probably” to the heat used in the extraction process. The absolutes of both enfleurage methods contained palm wax and palm oil, extracted by the ethanol used in the process.

Which compounds did the analyses find?

By GC-MS, Rakthaworn et al. (2009) detected 10 compounds in the cold enfleurage absolute of tuberose, the major ones being methyl benzoate (30.17 %), benzyl benzoate (23.64 %), 7-decen-5-olide (13.33 %) and methyl salicylate (12.11 %), as relative peak area. Ten constituents were also detected in the hot enfleurage absolute, methyl benzoate again being the main one, at a higher percentage (44.85 %) than in the cold enfleurage absolute; the text calls this value a “percentage yield”, while Table 4 gives it as relative peak area. (Z)-3-hexenyl 2-oxopropanoate was a major component (27.38 %) only in the hot enfleurage absolute.

In Punjee et al. (2009), the cold enfleurage absolute of Magnolia × alba consisted of three main compounds, indole (67.89 %) being the major component; the hot enfleurage absolute consisted of only two substances, with linalool (91.00 %) as the major component (relative peak area, Table 2).

In Pitpiangchan et al. (2009), GC-MS analysis detected 13 compounds in the cold enfleurage absolute of Plumeria obtusa, linalool (23.13 %) being the major component, and 12 compounds in the hot enfleurage absolute, with n-undecanoic acid (31.75 %) as the major component (relative peak area). Only three compounds, linalool, benzyl benzoate and benzyl salicylate, were found in both absolutes.

How did the authors describe appearance and odour?

The authors of the tuberose study found the scent of the cold enfleurage absolute more similar to that of a fresh tuberose flower than that of the hot enfleurage absolute; the source describes no sensory protocol for this assessment. In Table 1 of Punjee et al. (2009), the enfleurage extracts of Magnolia × alba appear as a reddish-brown, wax-like liquid, and the odour of the liquid from cold enfleurage was more similar to fresh flowers than that from hot enfleurage.

References

• Rakthaworn P., Dilokkunanant U., Sukkatta U., Vajrodaya S., Haruethaitanasan V. et al., « Extraction Methods for Tuberose Oil and Their Chemical Components », Kasetsart Journal (Natural Science) 2009;43(5):204-211 — https://li01.tci-thaijo.org/index.php/anres/article/download/244817/167283
• Punjee P., Dilokkunanant U., Sukkatta U., Vajrodaya S., Haruethaitanasan V. et al., « Scented Extracts and Essential Oil Extraction from Michelia alba D.C. », Kasetsart Journal (Natural Science) 2009;43(5):197-203 — https://li01.tci-thaijo.org/index.php/anres/article/download/244814/167282
• Pitpiangchan P., Dilokkunanant U., Sukkatta U., Vajrodaya S., Haruethaitanasan V. et al., « Comparative Study of Scented Compound Extraction from Plumeria obtusa L. », Kasetsart Journal (Natural Science) 2009;43(5):189-196 — https://li01.tci-thaijo.org/index.php/anres/article/download/244812/167281
• Soe’eib S., Asri N.P., A.S. Dwi Saptati N.H., Diah Agustina P., « Enfleurage Essential Oil from Jasmine and Rose Using Cold Fat Adsorbent », Jurnal Ilmiah Widya Teknik 2016;15(1):58-61 — https://journal.ukwms.ac.id/index.php/teknik/article/download/1525/pdf
• Kliszcz A., Danel A., Puła J., Barabasz-Krasny B., Możdżeń K., « Fleeting Beauty—The World of Plant Fragrances and Their Application », Molecules 2021;26(9):2473, doi:10.3390/molecules26092473 — https://eutils.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/eutils/efetch.fcgi?db=pmc&id=8122868&rettype=xml
• Yara-Varón E., Li Y., Balcells M., Canela-Garayoa R., Fabiano-Tixier A.-S. et al., « Vegetable Oils as Alternative Solvents for Green Oleo-Extraction, Purification and Formulation of Food and Natural Products », Molecules 2017;22(9):1474, doi:10.3390/molecules22091474 — https://eutils.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/eutils/efetch.fcgi?db=pmc&id=6151617&rettype=xml
• Chen Q., Zhang H., Lee Y.Y., Wang Y., Li Y., « Ultrasound-assisted solvent-free extraction of rosemary absolute oil: A green paradigm for high-efficacy natural antioxidant in frying oil stabilization », Ultrasonics Sonochemistry 2026;128:107813, doi:10.1016/j.ultsonch.2026.107813 — https://eutils.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/eutils/efetch.fcgi?db=pmc&id=13000726&rettype=xml
• Govaerts R. (ed.), World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP), Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew — https://sftp.kew.org/pub/data-repositories/WCVP/wcvp.zip