Cote d'Azur, France

We traveled through Nice and Cannes to Grasse, home of the perfume industry. Chanel's Jasmine fields are located in Grasse. We toured Fragonard's museum and factory where we learned how essences are extracted from flowers. We also learned that we could never become 'noses' as we failed to identify fragrances from their essences.

It used to be that essence was extracted by placing the heads of flowers in lard. Each day, the flowers would be replaced and this process would be repeated for two months. Once the lard was sufficiently fragranced, it was heated through and ethyl alcohol was added. The mixture was stored in a dark place for several months before it was strained through muslin.