Neroli and Orange Blossom and The Most Amazing Swedish Store

[Guest guest]

Hey Ylva,

 

> There is a store in the central of Stockholm called " Stockholms Aeter

> och Essance fabrik " , it's 110 years old (established in 1889) and

> have been runned by the same family for 4 generations. I and my

> friend Bärbel went there yesterday, cause I was looking for an

> Italian Spagetti Spice blend (se later post about this quest) and had

> read on their website that they even carried EO's, perfume oils,

> floral waters etc. Who in their right mind could resist that?

> Let me tell you - the shop is aboslutely amazing, it's a halfstair

> below street level, they have not changed a thing in there - same

> counter, shelves, jars, tincans, bottles - even the cash register is

> ancient! Ha, you can pay with credit card - but nothing online there,

> they have this handworked card slip machine I haven't seen anywhere

> in ages :-)

 

It looks super-nice .. and except for being a lot cleaner and better

organized it looks a tad like the herb store in which I started my

Maryland company in Summer 1999. Jim Naeseth (Norwegian heritage) runs

it still in Friendsville .. in a building that is over 120 years and I

reckon there has been little no maintenance since it was built. ;-p

 

I've moved twice since then .. we sorta outgrew the other locations.

 

> All the large bottles, jars and tincans are handlabeled, nothing

> tells how the stuff is produced or what's in it. On the shelves of

> EOs and perfume oils, they all stodd togheter and when I asked which

> was which, they had this lovely handwriten list - if it say

> synthetic after the name (like Honeysuckle and Lilac) it was

> synthetic - otherwise the real thing. I couldn't resist the urge, so

 

Jim's shop was like that for a long time .. only jars of herbs and such

till he got hooked by some of the so-called health food dudes and began

to also sell brand name humma-humma .. which, in my opinion, took away a

good bit of the originality of the store.

 

> BUT - they had some Orangeflower EO, that the list said was natural,

> and my nose did a very happy twitch when I unplugged the stopper. My

> friend Bärbel who have been to Sicily, said it smelled just like

 

Is the name Bärbel typically Swedish? Its also common in Germany.

 

> said it smelled just like fresh orange flowers picked of the tree.

 

You'll find this with the Hydrosol also. :-)

 

> And let me tell you, the price was so good it's hard to belive - I

> bought 50ml right before you could blink and eye. I must confess,

> the price was so low that I'm beginning to doubt if it's for real

> or not, but I couldn't detect any synthetics in it. When I got

> home I took out some smelling strip and put a drop of each of the

> two other Nerolis I've got and this new find of mine did realy hold

> up to them. Frankly, I don't now what to belive, but it smells great

> that for sure.

 

On Orange Flower EO .. there's a difference twixt that and Neroli. For

sure they are both produced from the blossoms of an Orange Tree .. but

prices are different because .. Orange Flower EO and Hydrosol .. both

commonly found all over the USA .. are produced from the blossoms of the

Sweet Orange Tree (Citrus sinensis) .. but Neroli is produced from the

blossoms of the Bitter Orange Tree (Citrus aurantium) .. and sometimes

Orange Flower EO is produced from the PEELS of the Bitter Orange and

sold as Orange Flower EO. I'm not saying that is the case here but if

we are shocked at the price of what we think is Neroli then we probably

don't have Neroli cause there is no bargaining on the price and there

are no discounts to be had for it .. world-wide.

 

Folks who sell Orange Blossom EO and Hydrosol have to be BOTH wise and

honest to avoid misleading buyers .. some are wise and some are honest

but if they are both wise and honest they will list the botanical name

correctly. Not much different than misuse of the term " Floral Water " to

sell products that are not really what they appear to be. And by the

way, there is a company in the USA who is misleading buyers on Orange

Blossom Hydrosol .. I can tell that from the price only .. its enough.

 

Is Sweet Orange EO a bad buy? Not at all!! But it is if we pay a

Neroli price for it. In your case, that didn't happen. But we gotta

remember to not forget to practice Caveat Emptor cause chances are

always good we might run into an honest but ignorant seller of goods.

 

> I also bought some of their handmade real fruit essences - they had

> tree kind that they make themselves - passionfruit, raspberry and

> blueberry. I bought one bottles each of the firs two and thought I

> could use it in lipbalms. I did taste the tinest droplet of the

> passsionfruit, hmppfff - that was one bitter and weird taste... I

> guess I have to try it out first in the tiniest batch.

 

I would think Sweden would make lotsa nice things from raspberries and

blueberries .. but I didn't know they had native passion fruit. I have

good friends who own a super-nice hotel " Sonnencafe Kridacher Hohe " in

Walmichelbach im der Odenwald (Germany) .. they make all kinds of superb

sauces and syrups and whatever home made from the fruits and berries in

the region .. so I'm into what you are saying. :-)

 

> If you want to look at the store and see how it looks like from the

> outside, their URL is here (though the site is in Swedsih of course):

> http://www.essencefabriken.se Click at the " försäljning " button and

> you can look at the interior. The EOs and perfume oils are in the

> brown bottles on the top far left shelves :-D If you ever have your

> way to this part of the earth, you simply must visit it!

 

I hope to visit it. I have to get up that way one of these days. I

have a half sister (Swedish) living in Stockholm .. used to be a little

idealist Commie but I think now that she has matured a bit she might

have become more of a Social Democrat. ;-)

 

> Fragrant Blessings,

> Ylva

 

Yes'm .. and to you .. and keep smiling. :-)

 

Butch http://www.AV-AT.com