NEWSLETTER

Autumn 1999

True Lavender (lavendula angustifolia)
with its glorious sweet aroma, is native to the mountains of Provence where it thrives on the combination of hot dry summers, cold winters and a limestone soil. Spike Lavender (lavendula spica), with its sharp Rosemary-like aroma grows in the lowlands of the region. Lavandin (lavendula hybrida) is a hybrid, which occurs between true and spike Lavender. Lavandin produces a very high yield of essential oil and, with its rather rough Lavender aroma, is widely grown in the region.

History
Until early this century true Lavender was harvested from wild plants in the mountains. However, with the growth in demand for fragrances and perfumes this supply was no longer sufficient and cultivation began. Of particular importance to the history of lavender production was the invention of the washing machine, it was found that the ideal aroma to hide the nasty smell of aluminum based washing powder was the hybrid Lavandin oil. Hence, Lavandin oil production began and is still used to perfume washing powder. Also, true Lavender production increased, initally growing Lavender from seed followed by growing various cloned forms - some grown for high yields, others for dried flowers etc. While the cloned forms have their uses, it is widely accepted that the true Lavender reproduced by seed from its native regions is the best. This is known in French as “Lavande Fine” .AII Atlantic Aromatics Lavender is “Lavande Fine”.

Currently the most true to nature Lavender oil available today is -
1.From Provence (native region).
2. Lavande Fine (not cloned).
3. Organically grown.

Atlantic Aromatics organic Lavender oil comes from a single farm in Haute Provence.

Lavender /Lavandin
Most cheap Lavender oil on sale is actually Lavandin which in particular lacks the sedative properties of true Lavender. France produces 40 tons of true Lavender and 1000 tons of Lavandin. The plants in the garden are easily distinguished as follows True Lavender has a single stem with a single flower head. Lavandin has a branched stem with two small flowering offshoots as well as the main flowering head.

Lavender Tourism
The region of Lavender oil production is in the foothills of the French Alps just east of the Rhone valley, northeast of Avignon. The season of distillation runs from mid July to late August and there are many distilleries and farms open to the public at this time.

Further information is available from the Provence region Tourist Board.

Unusual Smells

Occasionally customers comment that a particular batch of oil smells funny. This is virtually always the result of the oil being fresh. After distillation, it takes a few months for the aroma to settle down.

When smelling an essential oil straight from the bottle one can only smell the lighter, more volatile, fraction of the oil - the portion known in the language of perfumery as the top note.

To smell the total oil one should put a drop of oil on a strip of filter paper and smell repeatedly over a few hours. As the light top notes evaporate one can explore the middle and base notes of the oil. This is of particular value when smelling, for example, two Lavenders from different sources. They may smell similar from the bottle but be revealed as quite different using this type of analysis.

Note: It is helpful to take notes while smelling oils in this way.

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