Perfumes andalusíes, ¡tutorial incluido!

The perfume industry, similar to what we know today, was established in the 16th century, in Grasse (France). However, we are going to make a stop a little earlier, in Al-Andalus: a time in which the aromas were not only present in personal use, but also in the setting of stays and of course, in beauty treatments.

It is in this period when alcohol was introduced in the elaboration of perfumes, thus being able to spread the fragrances in the rooms of the house and the most accommodated families could afford to hire a perfumer who designed exclusive fragrances for them; In addition, in buildings and homes, there used to be an inner courtyard with fruit trees such as lemon or orange. New smells such as grapefruit, sandalwood, or cinnamon would be introduced from Asia and the Middle East. In the bath houses (Hammam) the skin was lived with scented soaps, all kinds of aesthetic treatments were offered (hair removal, hair care ...) and the skin was perfumed using essential oils. Of course, these splendid perfumes at parties were not missing.

It is said that the best Andalusian perfumers were from Seville and Granada, and some of the most popular smells were musk, gray amber, Indian aloe or incense tree.

The aromas were not only relegated to the beauty plane. Ibn al-Jatib, teacher of Ibn Zamrak, historian, politician, etc., and what interests us today today, doctor, wrote a book titled "Health according to the seasons". It is a medicine manual in which al Jatib establishes some recommendations according to the time of the year in which we get the most appropriate regimes for each of them. For autumn, for example, jasmine is mentioned.

For summer, perfumes containing refreshing substances or flower essences such as roses, violets and myrto flowers are adequate. Rose water is excellent. It is with these three smells that we are going to elaborate our own Andalusian perfume. Here we leave you the video, which we recorded nothing more and nothing less than four years, so you can do it at home.

Click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VFcMvhcudY&t=5s