Osmanthus Absolute
Origin: China

• Details and product description

  Introduction:

  Osmanthus is a small evergreen tree, measuring between 3 and 5 meters high, and appreciated for its fragrant flowering. The plant’s considerable longevity may extend up to 150 years. The leaves, tough and glossy, are shiny dark green, whole or slightly serrated, like holly leaves. During the flowering period, the tree is covered with white or yellow-orange flowers, that blossom in clusters. Individually, the flowers are rather small and barely visible, but the fragrance they emit is powerful and refined.

  History:

  Sweet osmanthus, known for 2000 years, has always attracted attention with its fragrant flowers and their fruity floral scent that calls to mind apricots. For several hundred years, the city of Hangzhou has been renown for a festival where people come together to taste foods made with sweet osmanthus while enjoying dances and popular songs. In the town and suburbs of Guilin located in the Guangxi province, and especially along the Lijiang river, the shrub is common and very abundant. For the enjoyment of tea lovers, the Chinese discovered that sweet osmanthus can be used to enhance the natural fruity flavor of some of the finest green and black teas. The plant was imported to Japan in the 17th century and introduced to Europe in 1771. Tradition: The Yunnan province has been perpetuating a custom for more that twenty-three centuries by making a liquor from sweet osmanthus flowers served in a jade cup during the autumn festivals.

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