Etrog Perfume + Quince Fruit, a photo by Ayala Moriel on Flickr.

Last week has flown by without even a glimpse of a chance to tell you about the progress of my Etrog perfume. The big breakthrough was, of course, finding the right heart note. But there is more fine-tuning that had to be done with the top notes and the base notes. Finding the right balance and also searching for a few missing elements. It was still lacking in some brightness, and needed more body and substance from both the base and the heart (for fixative quality - i.e. longevity - and also for more interest).

I was contemplating adding yuzu, aka Japanese citron (Citrus junos) to keep along with the citron theme. But the scent is so different from that of the cedrat or etrog citron (Citrus medica) that although I used it in previous mods (before obtaining the citron peel oil) - I quickly neglected the idea. The etrog is so subtle anyway, it's best to keep things simple with only the three types of Etrog essences I have (2 types of tinctures, and one essential oil) plus the pomelo (Citrus maxima) tincture.

As for the heart - it needed more depth, but also more brightness. The balsam poplar buds are so resinous and thick they threaten to steal the show! Etrog has began to smell more honeyed and ambery than planned. So, to cure the problem, I decided to intensify that effect with some real honey absolute on the basis of "Similia simelibius curentur", but it still needed some brightness, which was originally achieved with litsea cubeba. And for unknown reason, it felt wrong. I was hovering right next to it exploring other similar essences, and unearthed the very little bit of citron petitgrain that Mandy has given me when I visited her in Berkeley (she describes it as smelling like Meyer lemon blossoms!), and lemon myrtle that my brother Yotam brought me from Australia and I've never actually used in any of my perfumes (except for something I blended for him eons ago). They all got along marvelously, and also satisfied my geeky desire to keep with the Sukkot theme: myrtle and citron, both being part of the 4 species of the holiday. Sometimes, the simplest solutions lie right in front of your nose...

Last but not least, came the testing phase. The reason why in the photo above you're seeing what looks like a completed perfume (although it's not!), with label and spray and all, is because I had to test it in the spray form. And the reason why it's lying right next to a big fuzzy fragrant quince, is because I find quince and citron very similar to one another. Both have mythical tales surrounding them, unique aroma and medicinal properties hidden behind a rather modest (or even rustic and slightly unappealing look, in the case of Yemenite citron, or the fuzzy quince). These are the kind of fruit that fairy tales were woven about that if you're ill, the smell of this one special fruit will cure all ailments. That's been always my on my mind when creating the Etrog perfume.

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.