Fig Leaf Absolute

#### Fig Leaf Absolute. This comparatively rare perfume material has attained some interest among perfumers during the past decades. A few of the Grasse factories specialize in extraction of botanical drugs, etc. and some of these factories are more research- minded than others. Thus, there is hardly any botanical raw material within reach of the extraction factory which has not been subject to a thorough investigation. Fig leaves is one example. The leaves derive from **Ficus Carica**, one of the oldest of all the cultivated plants in the Mediterranean area. Growing wild as a shrub it is cultivated as a small tree in most of the countries around the "blue sea". This cultivation is, however, mainly conducted for the purpose of producing the edible "fruits" (swollen receptacles) which we call **Figs**. Algeria, Greece, Turkey and Spain are main producers of sun-dried figs but the tree is also cultivated in the south of France for local, partly private consumption. Accordingly, there is leaf material available for the present small-scale production of **Fig Leaf Absolute **in Grasse. The leaves are extracted with petroleum ether and the resulting concrète is washed with alcohol to produce the absolute (see **Absolute**, Part One of this book). **Fig**** ****Leaf**** ****Absolute**** **is a dark green to brownish green, semi-solid mass or a heavy, viscous liquid of a delicately sweet-green, herbaceous and somewhat woody odor with a mossy undertone. The absolute is used in various perfume creations, mostly those of the fougère, moss, chypre or meadow-type. It is also an interesting modifier in green-leafy "foliage" bases, etc. The annual production of **Fig**** ****Leaf**** ****Absolute**** **is probably less than 200 kilos but it could easily be adjusted to a higher figure in case of increased interest.