We’re used to slooshing this onto our salads or into our frying pans – but spritzing it onto our pulse-points? Well, yes: the fragrant use of olive goes back millennia: the early Arab perfume-makers used it as a base in many of their scented creations, and the Egyptians used it to steep jasmine blossoms, to produce a fragrant oil. Olive has had many other therapeutic benefits: as an aphrodisiac, in healing balms and creams, as sedatives and tonics. (And we’ve noticed that lately it’s having a moment in the sun in the form of olive leaf tea, packed with health-giving antioxidants.) Symbolically, olive leaves represent abundance (as well as glory) – and that’s certainly true of this Mediterranean tree, which is quite a multi-tasker in perfume-terms. The leaves, bark, fruits and flowers all offer different nuances: earthy, peppery, fruity, buttery or subtly herbal.
Smell olive in:
4160 Tuesdays The Gin Garden
