Skilled pickers in India pluck white jasmine, filling the air with its intoxicating scent, before the fresh buds are urgently processed into a valuable raw material for fragrances around the world.
Jasmine flowers emit a strong fragrance only when they bloom at night, and pickers must only select jasmine flowers that have not yet bloomed.
“We know which one to pick,” said Malakordi, who revealed only one name, carefully snapping his fingers to pluck the buds and tuck a few blooms into his hair. “These don’t work…but I like the smell,” she said.
The fragrant flowers of jasmine have been used to worship gods in India for thousands of years, and their fragrance is an important component of world-famous perfumes.
In the ancient city of Madurai in southern India, jasmine is ubiquitous, attracting buyers of some of the world’s most famous fragrances, including Dior’s J’adore and Guerlain’s Mon Guerlain.
“It’s one of the most expensive essential oils in the world,” says Raja Palaniswamy, director of Jasmine Concrete, which squeezes large quantities of jasmine to make a few drops of the precious, fragrant essence.
Women who pick the buds earn about US$1.50 (RM6.84) a day, picking about 4 to 5 kilograms – each kilogram is made up of about 4,000 buds.
Once picked, the jasmine flowers are taken to the market and sold on special occasions for 200 to 2,000 rupees (RM111.95) per kilogram.
expression of love
Madurai jasmine, an Asian variety with the scientific name Jasminum sambac, was awarded the Geographical Indication tag by India in 2013 because of its “strong aroma”.
“It’s lush, full-bodied, vibrant,” Thierry Wasser, perfumer and Nose for French beauty brand Guerlain, told AFP during a visit to jasmine operators.
Madurai’s jasmine has a “smoothness… and a timeless floral fragrance,” Wasser adds. Vassell sources the jasmine oil he uses from Palaniswami’s company.
Palaniswami said that in addition to Guerlain, his company also sells jasmine oil to companies including Bulgari, Dior and Lush.
This bright white flower can be seen in people’s homes in Madurai
Iconic for the city’s residents are the cords women tie in their hair – and the sprawling 14th-century complex of the Hindu goddess Meenakshi, who is considered the city’s protector.
Meenakshi is depicted holding a parrot, a bird associated with love. Every night, people surround the temple of the goddess with fragrant jasmine flowers, waiting for her to hold a grand symbolic ceremony with her husband Shiva.
“When you understand that the purpose of this flower is to celebrate love, brotherhood, family and friendship; when you smell it, it takes on another dimension,” Wasser said. “To me, this flower is an expression of love. Period.”
really fragrant
The process of extracting oil requires long hours of labor.
The women who picked jasmine—whether for their gods, weddings, funerals, or expensive perfume—had no time to romance its charms.
In a jasmine field on the outskirts of the ancient city, women gently plucked the branches of the shrubs in search of perfect buds.
During harvest season, processing plants run around the clock as workers rake out freshly picked flowers and wait for the rectangular buds to bloom.
“The moment it starts blooming, it starts to smell fragrant,” Palaniswami said.
Late at night, the sweet scent of jasmine fills the air as workers gather the flowers and load them into picking machines. Freshly picked jasmine flowers are soaked in a solvent, which absorbs the scent molecules, resulting in a waxy extract called concrete.
The concrete is further treated with alcohol, carefully removing the wax, resulting in a potent crude oil. This absolute oil becomes an ingredient in perfume.
Palaniswamy said around 700 kg of fresh jasmine flowers were reduced to just 1 kg of oil, which was sold for about $4,200.
But Amsavalli Karuppuswamy, who runs a stall outside the flower market, says fresh jasmine flowers are always more important than any oil.
“I’m going to keep doing this job until I die… Women love jasmine, so that’s why we do it,” she said. “The scents are not as valuable as raw jasmine—there’s nothing like the real scent of jasmine.”
