Orange blossom
The orange blossom harvest is coming to an end on our production lines. @Jean Gazignaire – Mul Group has been involved for more than 15 years with agricultural and processing partners in different territories. Three different origins that offer an olfactory palette rich in history and traditions that have inspired us to create a range of extracts, floral waters and essential oils, fully traced and certified.
In Tunisia, it is in the Cap Bon region, famous for the quality of its climate, that the sector is located. The campaign began on 1 April and lasted exactly one month. This longer period than the usual three-week harvest is explained by the cool, wet weather. The harvest was small as the 1,500 flower growers only picked 1,800 MT of flowers from their 550 hectares of cultivated land. The reason for this drop in harvest is that low flower prices in the pandemic years 2020 and 2021 discouraged many farmers from growing flowers. The increase in flower prices in the last harvest of 2022 should encourage them to resume cultivation of their trees for future production. The organic orange blossom sector set up by our partner on these 50ha plots of land will be less affected, a control that is possible thanks to the complete integration of the value chain.
In Egypt, we are going to the Gharbeya region, known for producing a particularly fine orange blossom. This year’s campaign started in March. Some 5,000 producers picked more than 2,000 MT of flowers over 20 days and 450 hectares of plantations. Here too, thanks to our own production, which is conducive to experimentation, we are working to promote a sector that is certified organic and responsible, with programmes of environmental and social innovation, two pillars that we are dealing with at the same time in the diagnosis of our sustainable sectors.
Finally, it is in the Alpes Maritimes in the Grasse region, the cradle of perfumery, that the last flowering took place this year, also delayed due to bad weather conditions and particularly due to the late coolness. Exposed to the sun and with a particularly mild microclimate, the bigarade orange trees (citrus aurantium) have found on the lands of Vallauris Golfe-Juan and Bar-sur-Loup, a soil conducive to their blossoming. This year’s harvest began on 25 April with little budding, and continued throughout May with a beautiful flowering. The harvest ended at the end of last week, with 50 growers picking over 3T of flowers in 20 days. Since 2020, we have been engaged in a programme to replant more than 700 trees on 13 hectares with the aim of doubling the production of orange blossoms in the Pays de Grasse within 10 years.
Three origins, three terroirs, but one common passion: the quality of the raw materials, from the tree to the still, the orange blossom with the sweet and reassuring scent of childhood is traced, cultivated and harvested through programmes that respect the environment and the people for a valued agriculture!
