Madurai : Welcome to Jasmine city !

Grandiflorum Jasmine picking around Madurai

Madurai region, early morning.
Women are already busy picking Grandiflorum Jasmine. They gently collect the flowers, then put them in a cloth bag hanging from their saree.

Grandiflorum Jasmine grows in India, France, Egypt. Pure white, the regular-shaped flowers are invariably composed of 5 petals. Picked once open, they are immediately extracted with volatile solvents, so that their fragrance does not fade out. The waxy dark oranged paste obtained, called concrete, is extracted once again. The final product obtained is called absolute. There are two varieties of Grandiflorum Jasmine : white and pink. Since their fragrances are quite similar, they are usually extracted simultaneously. The season runs from May to December. 
The smell of Grandiflorum Jasmine is floral jasmine, opulent, powerful, powdery, soft, fruity banana, milky peach, animal, with spicy notes of clove and celery.

Sambac Jasmine, though growing throughout India, gets a powerful fragrance in the Madurai region only. Indeed, it needs a temperature between 35 and 40°C and a particular soil type, with "red soil" and "black soil" mixed. Below 35°C is Sambac Jasmine reluctant to grow. Its season usually runs from February to October, with some variations depending on the monsoon. The hottest time of year, which is also the wedding season, falls in April-May. It is the high season for Sambac Jasmine. At the Madurai Airport is the town motto written on a sign : "Welcome to Jasmine City".
Sambac Jasmine is picked in the morning, when flowers are still buds. Buds are then spread near the extractors. They will be extracted with volatile solvents at night, after opening. Each plant will give a huge amount of flowers for 15 days, then very few flowers during the next 15 days. Farmers take this particularity into account to have flowers to be picked everyday.

During the high season may the size of Sambac Jasmine flowers double. On the contrary, farmers usually use pesticides during the low season so that the flowers keep on growing.
Sambac flowers have an irregular number of petals (usually between 10 and 15).
The Jasmine necklaces which decorate women hair and that drivers hang at their rearview mirror instead of our traditional paper firs are usually made of Sambac buds.

Sambac Jasmine flowers open around 6PM-6.30PM. The fragrance in hair or around the wrist (when you make a bracelet out of it) is simply divine : floral jasmine, fruity milky peach, a bit watery, greener than the Grandiflorum, less spicy clove, slightly animal.
Extractions start after blossoming. The absolute is obtained the same way as for Grandiflorum Jasmine. Generally, one ton flowers can be loaded in the extractor. Yield will be around 0.1-0.2%. In other words, a ton of Sambac Jasmine floweres give approximately 1kg (sometimes 1.5kg) concrete. 

There is a third Jasmine quality cultivated in India : Auriculatum Jasmine. Flowers are picked as buds and are also used for the fabrication of Jasmine necklaces. Although it is not used for perfumery, its fragrance is amazing. Its smell is quite similar to the Grandiflorum Jasmine, slightly less powerful but more fresh.