Yuzu & Bergamot
Every year around this time I purchase a box or two of bergamot oranges to process for perfumery and perfumed food. It's like Christmas after Christmas awaiting the arrival of the boxes, checking and re-checking the Fed-Ex tracking to make sure they arrive safely at my front door and not swooped by a porch pirate, who will be sorely disappointed in his or her booty, and tosses the goods to rot in a field shrouded by Tule fog.
I've decided not to distill these and instead dry the peels for use in incense and soap and for tinctures. I may set a few aside for marmalade as well, and the juice for cooking. I don't want to complicate things more than they already are as there is a Fraser fir standing in the backyard waiting to be distilled. There just doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day anymore.
The house is being rearranged, rooms shifted, closets emptied and refilled, bathrooms going from plums and violets and Fleur de Lis to sailing ships and eye patches and Axe body wash. Basically, there is a lot more going on than just the workings in my little perfume studio, and squeezing in housework between work-work and familial obligations is starting to pinch. It will all release soon enough, though, and there will be more time than necessary to get these things done. The problem is that right now most of this needs to be done in a timely manner, like that tree. It isn't going to wait a couple of weeks to be distilled. It will die and dry up and be a bristly pain in the a**, and it won't yield the end product I'm shooting for (basically, it's experimentation and practice so I'm sure I'll be happy with what I get -- unless I scorch it). It's about balance, right? Do a little of this, then do some of that, then more of this, and a bit of that, and so on and so forth until it all comes together. I think it's about time to whip out the organizer again.
I've decided not to distill these and instead dry the peels for use in incense and soap and for tinctures. I may set a few aside for marmalade as well, and the juice for cooking. I don't want to complicate things more than they already are as there is a Fraser fir standing in the backyard waiting to be distilled. There just doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day anymore.
The house is being rearranged, rooms shifted, closets emptied and refilled, bathrooms going from plums and violets and Fleur de Lis to sailing ships and eye patches and Axe body wash. Basically, there is a lot more going on than just the workings in my little perfume studio, and squeezing in housework between work-work and familial obligations is starting to pinch. It will all release soon enough, though, and there will be more time than necessary to get these things done. The problem is that right now most of this needs to be done in a timely manner, like that tree. It isn't going to wait a couple of weeks to be distilled. It will die and dry up and be a bristly pain in the a**, and it won't yield the end product I'm shooting for (basically, it's experimentation and practice so I'm sure I'll be happy with what I get -- unless I scorch it). It's about balance, right? Do a little of this, then do some of that, then more of this, and a bit of that, and so on and so forth until it all comes together. I think it's about time to whip out the organizer again.
Comments
Post a Comment