Summer Jasmine
S C E N T P R O F I L E
Jasmine (Jasminum officinale), also known simply as the common jasmine, is a type of flowering plant from the olive family, Oleaceae. The species is indigenus to various countries in the Middle East, as well as the Himalayas, India, Nepal and western China. In the present day, the plant is also cultivated and naturalised in many European countries, such as Spain, France and Italy, as well as in Florida and the West Indies. Since it is so ancient in its cultivation, Jasmine’s country of origin, though somewhere in Central Asia, is still uncertain but its entry into European gardens was likely due to the Arab-Norman culture of Sicily.
This plant, also going by other names such as summer jasmine, white jasmine and poet’s jasmine, is highly favoured by gardeners due to its intensely aromatic flowers in the summer months. It is a climbing plant and these small, star-shaped flowers, usually in pure white or pale pink, carry a strong, heady scent and bloom from Summer through to Autumn.
Used in traditional medicine, Jasmine and its essential oil has been said to naturally treat depression, anxiety, stress, digestive issues and insomnia for thousands of years, especially in parts of Asia. These remedies often take the form of Jasmine Tea or used simply as an oil. In culinary circles, the plant can be used to flavour drinks, desserts, gelatins, baked goods and much more.
Jasmine’s fragrance itself is described as rich and sweetly floral. It can also be created in a lab, however, and this produces a much fresher and greener aroma. An incredibly popular scent in perfumery, there’s not many fragrances that exist without some hint of Jasmine. The process of extracting Jasmine’s scent used to be called enfleurage - a process of pressing the flowers in layers of fat and then extracting the scent from this fat. Although we use a different method now, it still takes a huge amount of hand-picked flowers to produce the oil, making the product incredibly expensive.
Summer Jasmine is a fragrance we recently added to our collection. Fresh and floral, at The Master Herbalist we have our Summer Jasmine scented drawer liners available in three patterns - Japanese Pen Print, Classical Heron and William Morris Willow - and in a William Morris Willow wardrobe freshener.
Shop the collection here.
Resources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jasminum_officinale
https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/popular/jasmine/growing-guide
https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/9454/jasminum-officinale/details
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jasmine
https://www.fragrantica.com/notes/Jasmine-14.html
https://perfumesociety.org/ingredients-post/jasmine-2/
https://www.rxlist.com/jasmine/supplements.htm
https://www.indigo-herbs.co.uk/natural-health-guide/benefits/jasmine
