Definition
Warm enfleurage, historically called maceration, is a perfumery extraction process that captures the aromatic molecules of sturdier flowers and certain resins through prolonged contact with moderately heated fat. The fat, animal or vegetal, acts as a natural solvent, and the gentle heat helps release aromatic molecules that ambient temperature alone would not draw out.
Origin and history
Warm enfleurage has been known since antiquity and ranks among the oldest perfumery extraction methods (source: Delacourte). It was practiced industrially in Grasse (France) from the 18th century, alongside its cold counterpart, for flowers and resins that can tolerate moderate heat.
Like cold enfleurage, the technique was abandoned industrially in the 1930s in favor of volatile solvent extraction, which proved faster and far cheaper (source: Bon Parfumeur). It survives today in the curriculum of ISIPCA, in a few Grasse workshops, and with natural perfumer Mandy Aftel in Berkeley.
Use in perfumery
Flowers are immersed in fat warmed gently, in a water bath or by the heat of the sun, then replaced with fresh petals every twenty-four hours until the fat is saturated. The resulting paste, called pomade, is then washed with alcohol to yield the absolute (source: African Aromatics).
The process is used mainly for rose, orange blossom, mimosa and narcissus, as well as for resins such as benzoin. It complements cold enfleurage, reserved for the most fragile flowers like jasmine and tuberose, and remains rare in niche perfumery.