From the August 1997
Newsletter...
Morocco
An account of the BSP trip to Morocco (hosted by Biolandes),
2-7 May 1997
What's
all this?
This is not going to become a 70-page regular slot in the next seventeen
issues of the BSP newsletter, as was suggested at the time, but is in fact
a short piece of storytelling with some funny pictures...
A few fortunate people, author included, went to Morocco in May. Roses
were smelt, carpets were examined and bought, the back end of a tractor
was climbed and we ducked a few trees...
Morocco
Bound
Election morning was a sunny affair and Jane Winfield from Quest had
arranged a car for herself and I to go to Gatwick airport, departing Ashford
five in the morning. The car radio boomed out news of the enormous Labour
victory, while we struggled to keep our eyes open.
When we arrived it wasn't much hotter than England had been on our departure,
though Roger Manners, a late addition to the merry few, (whose accompanying
daughter Phoebe is considering taking the Business of Perfumery course
at Plymouth), informed me it had been 33 degrees in Marrakech the day before.
Greeting us at the Es-Saadi Hotel were the superb Dominique Goby and Corinne
Maillan of SBI Biolandes, who were our invaluable hosts.
First
Stop : Marrakech
This old, red-ochre city, painted purple with bougainvillea and riddled
with cyclists, includes the fine gardens of La Mamounia Hotel, where we
drowned in a haze of honeysuckle. I tried to smell the bougainvillea but
as it doesn't really have an odour I may as well have been sniffing the
wall. The datura, however, was delicious; a soft-lemon odour strengthening
in indole as evening fell. Earlier in the day we'd visited the palace garden
of La Bahia, where our tour guide confided how once upon a time he made
a cup of tea out of datura leaves; after drinking the mixture he slept
for 25 hours.
Our first evening was spent at Chez Ali. Here tourists are sucked into
a world of dancers, singers, and camels, and treated to table-size dishes
of lamb followed by the delicious local couscous! And it was here we heard
for the first time the fine Moroccan call of 'lololololololo!!'. If that
sounds weird you should hear one of us try and do it.
Valley
of the Roses
| On Saturday we entered the Dades Valley in the Atlas Mountains,
A.K.A. the Valley of the Roses.
SBI, who are owned by Biolandes, manufacture rose concrete here from
the vast collection of rose petals brought in to the plant at Khelaa des
Mgouna...approximately 350kg of rose petals are required to produce 1kg
of rose concrete.
The season lasts from mid-April to the end of May, and brings with it
a potential yield of 1 tonne rose concrete; SBI sends this to France to
be processed into rose absolute.
We were overawed at the roses' fragrance. Paul McGee, wearing a hat
to shield the blazing sun, was quite impressed; 'these roses actually smell
of rose absolute,' he said, 'whereas roses at home smell of phenyl ethyl
alcohol'. Naoki Shimazaki, an independent perfumer who came all the way
from Japan with his wife Anke, was clearly enjoying the day immensely,
visiting one rose after another and capturing many of them on film.
Our guides were Fortune, general manager of the Moroccan SBI plants,
and Youssef, wearing a fez (especially for our visit), but in normal attire
the day before, pushing some petals into one of the solvent extraction
vessels. Fortune told us how one small stem of Rosa damascena produces
seven roses. These flower at different times over a period of three to
four weeks. He added that since they'd had no frost and plenty of rain
this year, the crop would be more abundant and longer lasting. (Dominique
has since told me they had a frost, so the '97 crop was around 30% below
last year's). |
 |
Back inside the plant we couldn't resist a frolic in the rose petals!
Watch out for essence of rose and creative perfumer. After we'd all calmed
down, we took a closer look at the processes of extraction, from solvent
extraction (to produce rose concrete, using hexane) and steam distillation
(to produce rose oil).
The plant at El Khelaa also manufactures armoise oil (June to July,
October to November) and oakmoss concrete (September to February).
Red
mountains. Green valleys. Blue skies.
 |
Having already witnessed some very colourful sights on Saturday, Berber
villages tucked below the mountains, streams winding their way through
dark green valleys, we were in for more sights on Monday, when we headed
northeast.
First the scenery became barren; we saw lonely camels standing far far
away from any water, then suddenly an oasis of green palm trees would appear,
intermingled with the now familiar sight of houses made of orange clay,
and a resting local sitting outside.
Our coach ventured higher. And higher, until we perched over 2000m above
sea level and among the forests of cedar, about 90 miles south of Fes. |
Strange
insects
Not all of us saw the monkeys, but as we walked up the hill I think
we all smelt the thyme. It gave a refreshing touch to the forest air, and
some of us had to watch out not to trample on the strange insects!
The cedarmoss, which flourishes on the trees' dead branches and trunks,
grows on public land, and, Dominique told me, is collected by pickers who
bid for permission to do this.
We also found oakmoss on the oak trees, and took some home with us.
While we wandered about, Dominique explained how the extract from treemoss,
which grows on the pine trees in central France, has a more woody note
than that of oakmoss or cedarmoss because the little branches get pulled
off during collection.
Orange
hands
Fes is far more modern-looking than Marrakech, and as we entered the
wide open streets lined with lilac-coloured jacaranda trees, the people
appeared more relaxed, and many of the women wore 20th century clothing.
We stayed at the Jnan Palace (a truly five-star hotel), with a swimming
pool bigger than a football pitch, well - maybe a tennis court, and a reception
magnificently decorated with Moroccan artwork.
Fedela, our local tour manager, had organised a visit to the 'Merinides'
Hotel for our dinner. It was here that Paul and Denise McGee mysteriously
disappeared.
Fortunately they came back ten minutes later, but I didn't recognise
them in their Moroccan-style wedding costumes...They got married again,
and part of the ceremony was to have their hands painted. Envious of their
colourful hands, many of the rest of us had our hands painted too, leaving
orange patterns on them which could've easily been mistaken for a nasty
disease. We were lucky to be allowed back in England.
Tractor
| The day after, we visited SBI's plant in Khemisset, mid-way
between Fes and Rabat.
Wild chamomile was being processed by steam distillation. As the lid
of the distillation vessel was opened, we saw huge clouds of steam billow
out, leaving behind spent wild chamomile. A mixture of oil vapour and steam
had already been syphoned off to go to another vessel for separation.
Behind the solvent extraction plant (which is also used for processing
wild chamomile), there were rows of bitter orange trees. Fortunately a
few orange flowers remained, since it was the end of the season, and these
smelt terrific. With sprigs of orange flower in our hands, and leaves which
we scratched to smell petitgrain, we got on board a tractor and (ducking
for the trees!) saw the rest of the crops.
Fields of jasmine followed Rosa centifolia (Rose du Mai), carob trees
followed olive trees, and we stopped next to a field of geranium. On our
way back we saw some cypress trees, which are there to shelter the jasmine
and rose fields from too much wind and sunshine. |
 |
 |
This was an absolutely brilliant trip, everyone who worked hard to
make it happen (Dominique, Paul, Marianne, to name just a few) are owed
a huge thank-you, Lisa Hipgrave, the then President of the BSP, was very
entertaining with her contagious laughter, and I had a trip so good I'll
never forget it.
...If another trip comes up, with the potential to be as good as this
one, I'd highly recommend it! |
Howard Stratton
Howard won the award for best second year
student from the University of Plymouth's Perfumery course. He went on
to complete a year's placement at Quest International.
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© Copyright British Society of Perfumers 1998