Happy Sukkot + Etrog's 1st Anniversary

Etrog (Citron), a photo by Ayala Moriel on Flickr.

Happy Sukkot and blessed harvest holiday to all my Jewish friends, customers and readers!

This is the 1st anniversary of Etrog Oy de Cologne, and a perfect opportunity to celebrate the closing of one cycle of harvest for me, and thank you for receiving Etrog with so much warmth, enthusiasm and support.

It is for you that I create my perfumes, and it means so much to me that I am able to continue doing what I am doing and put food on the table for my tiny family while pursuing my passion. May this year be - both fragrant and tasty, good deeds and learning, just like the elusive Etrog fruit.

On a community effort note, which is what made Etrog so special: if any of you have leftover Etrogim in the Greater Vancouver area, and would like to donate them at the end of Sukkot - that would be most appreciated. Their delightful zest will be used to create a limited edition tea!

Etrog Oy de Cologne

Just in time for Father's Day, our new Etrog Oy de Cologne is now available online!

Due to its delicate flavour and sweet perfume, citron (Citrus medica, or Etrog in Hebrew) garnered mythical significance like no other citrus fruit. It is one of the 4 species in Sukkot, alongside myrtle, willow and palm. Etrog symbolizes the heart, and is said to represent a complete, balanced person: one who has both knowledge and learning, as well as good deeds.

And like all good things, citron fruit is rare, and its essences is even more difficult to find. Therefore, the perfumer had to tincture her own: fresh organic fruit was tinctured by her family in Israel, and the rabbi of downtown Vancouver donated his family's Etrogim for 3 consecutive years. Thanks to this community effort - the first "Oy de Cologne"!

Ayala Moriel's Etrog Oy de Cologne is a modern twist on a timeless classic: citron zest is paired with pomelo peel to accentuate its subtle floral-citrus aroma, alongside green myrtle and Japanese mint to balance its fruity sweetness. Balsam poplar buds created a honeyed, pulp-like texture alongside Australian lemon myrtle and citron leaves. Ancient olive and incense resins make a lasting impression.

Families: Citrus, Citrus Floral

Top notes: Citron (Etrog) Tincture, Japanese Mint, Pomelo Peel Tincture, Green Myrtle

Heart notes: Balsam Poplar Buds, Lemon Myrtle, Petitgrain Cedrat, Honey Absolute

Base notes: Frankincense , Olive Tree Resin, Ambergris, Opoponax

First Day of Autumn

New season, new beginnings!

Today is Sukkot eve AND the first day of Autumn. It's considered a magical yet risky and dark time of transition, which caught me a little off-guard this time, as I'm immersed fully in teaching my week-long course about the Oriental Fragrance Family.

This is the season that replaces growth and abundance with diminishing light. Like a waning moon is preparing itself for a new one. It's a time of uncertainty, reflection and preparation for colder, darker days when natural resources are more sparse and rare... That's the time when one needs to stock-up on all that's needed to survive for the upcoming season, on every level - Physically, this is the harvest season, where stocking up on food, fire-logs begins; and preparing warm clothes as well as getting the shelter protected and sealed against rain, snow and cold winds. From a young age I learnt that the meaning of the holiday of Sukkot is to make us more appreciative of having a permanent home or shelter, rather than a tent of a tabernacle that is open to all winds and rainfall can penetrate it easily from above. Experiencing the first rain in Israel usually happens when we sleep in our Sukkah... It's exciting, even if very uncomfortable. And it's a relief when at the end of the week, we can go into our warm beds and enjoy a sense of security...

Socially, this is the time for families, friends, neighbors and communities to get together, support each other, celebrate and thank for the abundance we're blessed with. And also making sure everyone else who's less fortunate will still not be left behind. In the following week, every Sukkah (and in my case - my home; because I do not have a yard to build one in; and also because I'm not exactly religious - I just like to keep the connection with my ancestors and with the traditions I grew up with - even if just by blogging about them and connecting them to my perfume and artwork). So I hope my humble home will be blessed with guests this coming week and in the future as well.

Spiritually, transitions are a great challenge as they push us forward against our will and against our constant illusion that we have the option of stepping up the ladder of growth, dwelling on the past or being stuck wherever we are. We grow whether if we like it or not, and whether if we accept it or not. And growth is painful, especially because unlike the snake, we don't have the ability to get rid of the old skin completely... So when we grow, we feel the stretching of our soul and it may feel as ugly as stretch marks for a while, but not for long. We will soon feel comfortable and fresh in our new skin and ready to embark onto the next big journey!

Emotionally, this is where perfume and the senses comes into place for me, as I find great comfort and refuge in anything that is fragrant and sensual - from the colours of the changing leaves (regardless of how cliche this is!) to the textures of fall attire (wool, suede, tweed, cardigans and tights all over again) find fall scents to be particularly soothing to my soul. The scent of burning leaves, mossy undergrowth in the forest, the chill of the cooling ocean in the evening, mushrooms, the aromas of spicy pastries and chai tea, roasted vegetables, dried fruit and burning resinous incense.

This holiday I'm going back to working on my Etrog perfume and I'm very curious to see how it unfolds. It's not a particularly autumnal scent, becuase I'm planning on it to be an exotic eau de cologne type of scent; but it is very strongly connected to this season and this holiday and there is no better time to do it!

Happy Sukkot to all of you who are celebrating; and if you live in the city, drop by for some chai :-)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:my back yard

Back to Citron

Etrog, originally uploaded by BecomingJewish.Org.

After a year of break from my Etrog project, I'm getting back to designing this perfume. It is probably going to be more of a cologne than a perfume though... And here lays the challenges - technical as well as creative:
1) Etrog (or citron - aka Citrus medica) essential oil is nowhere to be found to the best of my knowledge
2) Etrog fruit is just as rare. The Jews seem to be the only ones trading in it in North America, and the fruit starts at $40 each (you usually need to buy this with the whole set of "Arba'at ha Minim" - the 4 species of Sukkot.
3) Because of this rarity, it is neither easy to make tincture of the fruit, nor is it easy to remember how the scent smells like and stay true to the inspiration!
4) Last but not least - what I'm trying to create is more of an Eau de Cologne scent rather than a full blown perfume. This is the only way I have a chance of letting this delicate note truly shine, rather than being a mere top note!

I'm back to the lab and the drawing board this morning with my Etrog perfume. My 1st two mods of last year utilized a Yemenite Etrog tincture my mother made for me from organically grown fruit from the village. That year I also created my own Etrog tincture from the over-priced fruit here, possible only thanks to the courtesy of Rabbi Binyomin Bitton of Chabad Downtown, who donated to this project the 3 etrogim that he and his sons used throughout the holiday, and that received all the thorough blessings possible. I added to that my own personal etrog (less blessed, admittedly). And I tinctured this with my 1st year's students last fall, after Sukkot was over.

I created 2 mods last year, and kept them relatively simple. I used the abovementioned etrog tincture from the village, pomello tincture from an unusually fragrant and unwaxed pomelo that I completely luckily stumbled upon one day in a Chinese grocery store... A little bit of Japanese mint and rosemary verbenone, Japanese citron (yuzu), and a few fixatives: just benzoin in one, and benzoin and hinoki in the other.

I was much less than impressed with either of these, but had to let my frustration rest for a while before getting back to it. This morning seemed to be a good time to continue... Even though I feel I will need to double the concentration of the etrog tincture with more etrogim from this Sukkot in order to get the right result!

Etrog has a very fine aroma, not so much like citrus - more so like flowers and pineapple. It's hard to capture that, but funnily enough, my pomelo tincture seems more true to it than the actual etrog tincture... It has to have a fine balance between sweetness and dryness. It's a very, very elegant note and not at all like any other citrus (except for pomelo, perhaps).

So this morning, I've blended the same tinctures and yuzu, but also added some blood orange, green lemon and organic lemon, and the same herbs as before. I also fleshed this out with some florals - neroli and orange blossom absolute, petitgrain bigarade and lemon petitgrain. I fixed this with benzoin, frankincense, cypress, ambergris and olive resin tincture. I'm still feeling like a lot is missing and I'm quite sure I know what I want to add: green myrtle oil (which I thought I had but I don't!) and also citron petiitgrain, which I'm out of as well and love (it's a very rare oil to find, but not as rare as citron fruit peel, which I've never came across, ever!). And as I said, a stronger citron tincture, by adding more peels to last year's tincture. This is going to be at least a 3 years project, which can be on one hand really intimidating, but on the other hand - I think this is the beauty of the art of perfume: timing is everything, and the perfume has to ripen not only in the vat, but also in the perfumer's soul.

Happy Sukkot!

Etrog, originally uploaded by Ayala Moriel.

Dear SmellyBlog Readers,
Wishing you a happy Sukkot and harvest season.
This year I have bought my own citron fruit for the first time and I'm very excited! I will be posting pics and tell you more about my citron odyssey, as I'm on a journey for the 2nd year now to create an etrog perfume. This year it has an even more special meaning than ever and I hope by the end of the holiday I will have enough essence to actually make it.
The fruit cannot be used until after Sukkot is over, so I must pray for patience first and foremost!
Hag Samecah,
Ayala

P.s. the above photo is from last year. Now I'm off to assemble my Etrog and Lulav et al and to dinner with my daughter and brother who's just arrived last week and is already cooking for us!

Citron Odyssey

The Citron and the pretzels, originally uploaded by zuf1.

After Sukkot was over, I begged my mom to find some citron fruit in the village and make me some citron tincture following my explicit instruction. After a long search (there are only 2 families that grow these special trees in the village), she found one fruit and prepared the tincture. A week or so later, a basket with 10 more citrons awaited at her front porch. Some of which were used for candied citron peels.

The goods arrived here safely, and now the challenge is to figure out what to use it for. Originally, I wanted to create a Sukkot perfume. Without any clear idea of what that might be.

For now, I've used it in my first mod of the mandarin-sandalwood perfume. In the meantime, I also added some pomelo tincture I've made myself (this deserves an entry of its own). My only problem really is that sandalwood smells terrible on me in almost all forms so I'm going to recruit some volunteers for skin tests to see how it smells on more sandalwood-friendly skins. But these two sure give it a lift and make it more interesting than just tangerines and mandarins.

As far as the citron odyssey is progressing though - at least I've finally got closer to some. It is such a strange, intangible citrus though. So much more subtle than anything else. It's more similar to pomelo than anything else, almost velvety; and from all the citrus fruit, citron reminds me of quince more than anything else. It is not exactly sweet, nor sour. Perhaps salty is the closest flavour? Just like the one in the above photo and its preztel-y company.

Happy Sukkot! Happy Thanksgiving!

venice - square version, originally uploaded by Pay No Mind.

Happy Sukkot and Happy (Canadian) Thanksgiving!
Lots of reasons to celebrate today and lots of things to be thankful for.
So let's celebrate...

What To Do With Your Etrog?

Who are you looking at?, originally uploaded by Mor Miller.

Throughout the holiday of Sukkot, the Etrog is guarded with utmost importance, often in silver boxes, nestled amongst soft cotton balls. The wholeness of the Etrog is of such important, that it is carefully chosen – only the most perfected fruit are used as symbol for the holidays, and in European Jewish tradition, this means that the Etrog should have a perfectly shaped niplet*. So perfect is the fruit that there were stories inspired by it and tales about innocent children who were tempted t bite that niplet off and violate its preciousness.

But now that the Sukkot holiday is over, and the guard has been taken off the precious Etrog, what is there to do with the citron fruit left?

The citron fruit has a very peculiar flesh – almost nothing to remind one that it is a citrus fruit at all. Instead of the juicy, pulpy section, it has mostly a sponge-like extension of the peel.

Hence, it is ideal for making candied citrus peel! Every year, after Sukkot was over, our kindergarten teacher has made these for us. The process is lengthy, and may take up to a week’s time. It is therefore no surprise that now my kindergarten teacher runs her own little café in the village where she offers her clientele beautiful home-baked goods and fancy cakes. Last time I visited her café she served me an innovative version of Sahleb, served with a banana-split, which was far more delightful and nourishing than I have expected from this highly popularized winter beverage.

Since the white spongey peel is not as bitter as most citrus fruit, the result is worth the effort. The process entails peeling off the outer peel (the yellow part, containing the essential oils) and than soaking it in water for several days. Once the bitterness has been squeezed out of the peels, they are cooked in a sugar syrup and served, either covered with shredded coconut, or not. What makes these citron candies so special is their texture even more than their delicate flavour.

Etrog, originally uploaded by Alexander Becker.

In a similar manner, citron fruit can be made into jams and marmalades.
Apparentlay, it can be used in baking as well. Here are a few links to citron recipes:

Citron Cake

Citron Marmalade

Citron Liquor

Etrog slices in syrup - you can even scent them with rosewater, like the one I’ve found in a dusty jar at a local Persian grocery store. Perhaps orange flower water could be even better!

I think the main reason citron is so rare in cooking is because it is an expensive and difficult to find. Perhaps if it wasn’t so holy in the Sukkot holiday, we would have seen a lot more of it. But it wouldn’t be nearly as special, I suppose.
Citron essential oil is also extremely hard to get. I believe most of the citron orchards (aside from those grown by the Hassidic Jews at Kfar Habad near Tel Aviv) are owned by certain perfume companies and they just have a monopoly on them. I have just got off the phone with my mother this morning begging her to find me an Etrog and try to abuse it in such ways as to squeeze its essential oils so I can make a perfume out of it!

And for those of us far less ambitious, there is always the option of turning the Etrog into a pomander that would last for many years to come: simply stick clove buds systematically in every spot on the Etrog’s skin as to cover it completely. The Etrog will dry up and be preserved literally forever. This is traditionally served at the Sabbath table for the “Boreh Miney Besamim” blessing (thanking God for blessing us with different perfumes).


*The Yemenite Jews, on the other hand, use a far larger citron fruit that has a folded peel, much like kaffir limes, and no niplet at all

Botanical Symbolism

Photo of Lulav & Etrog by Sam Feinstein-Feit

Aside from living in a hut just when the autumn breezes and first rains are due (in the Middle East, anyhow - if you live in Vancouver summer has ended over a month ago!) - is most unusual for its mysterious and rich botanical symbolism.

Unlike Rosh Hashana (“Head of the Year”), with botanical symbols that were passed from mouth to ear for thousands of years (i.e.: the eating of pomegranates, apples-in-honey, beets, carrots and other sweet fruit and vegetables), Succot’s symbols are actually mentioned in the bible: “"And you shall take for yourself on the first day the fruit of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook" (Leviticus. 23:40).

And what are these four species?
For as long as Jews can remember, “Fruit of goodly trees”, AKA “Etrog” has been the majestic citron fruit.
The branches of palm tree are not just branches, but the very beginning of a palm leaf, when it is still closed and looks more like a whip than anything else.
The “boughs of thick trees” was represented by myrtle branches.
And “willows of the brook” are simply willow branches. Not the weeping willows, but the upright kind which grows by the brooks.

The four species are symbolic representations of many things. Many of which I will not be able to tell you because I haven’t studied the topic more than an average Jew does. But the reason I bring these up and write about them on my blog (a blog about perfume, not about religion or Judaism) will become clear as we progress along my trail of thought...

The symbolic meaning of anything manifested in the material world is highly connected to its physical and tangible characteristics. And as every little Jewish girl and boy learn in kindergarten, the four species are four different permutations on the theme of smell and taste:
Etrog (Citron) has both flavour and fragrance;
Lulav (palm leaf) has flavour but no fragrance (this is in reference to the dates - the palm fruit - rather than the leaf);
Hadass (Myrtle) has fragrance but no flavour;
And finally, Arava (Willow) has neither fragrance nor flavour.

These qualities are symbolic of different qualities of a person – fragrance being attributed to good dees, while taste corresponds to knowledge and learning:
Etrog is a person who has both knowledge and learning and good deeds.
Lulav is a person who only has cerebral knowledge but misses the importance of good deeds.
Hadass symbolizes a person who does good deeds but is ignorant.
And finally, Arava (the willow), lacking in both taste and scent, represents a person who is both ignorant and that does not do good deeds.

I find it interesting that fragrance in this ancient oral tradition is corresponding to good deeds. Could it possibly be related to the fact that scent and emotions are so closely related? Is a person with a more sensitive sense of smell also more sensitive to other people’s feelings and therefore acts more morally? These are interesting thoughts, especially in the light of the sense of smell being so neglected in Western traditions for the most part, regarded as “inferior” or “animalic”.

Happy Sukkot!

venice - square version, originally uploaded by Pay No Mind.

To all SmellyBlog readers who are celebrating Sukkot - Happy Holiday!
May your sukkah be blessed with the the 7 Ushpizin and loving friends and family!