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How India's Perfumers Recreate The Smell Of Rain On Earth | Still Standing - YouTube
Channel: Business Insider
[1]
fresh roses are the main ingredient for
[3]
this ancient way of making perfume
[6]
the tradition is thousands of years old
[9]
and this small city in india is one of
[11]
the only places that still makes it this
[14]
way
[15]
one batch can take weeks or even months
[18]
to prepare
[19]
the result is 100
[21]
pure perfume also called
[24]
the arabic word for fragrance
[28]
but what makes the uttar so special is
[31]
also what is leading to its demise
[34]
the time consuming process is hard to
[37]
sustain
[38]
we visited india's perfume capital kanoj
[41]
to see how this craft is still standing
[46]
workers gather roses in these fields
[49]
near canoge and deliver them to
[51]
distilleries while they're still fresh
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this one is over 100 years old it's
[58]
owned by ml ramnariyan perfumers
[61]
there is no electricity and no
[64]
industrial machinery here
[66]
workers have already prepped these
[68]
copper containers or dates filling them
[70]
with just the right amount of water
[73]
about 80 kilos
[83]
once the flowers arrive they are
[85]
carefully weighed it is an essential
[87]
part of the process as getting an
[89]
accurate ratio is key
[96]
the roses are evenly spread out and it
[99]
takes two men to carry and pour them
[101]
into the dates
[110]
as the petals begin to seep in the water
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a craftsman seals the container rim with
[115]
a mixture of clay and cotton
[120]
they then light firewood inside an
[122]
earthen oven called a patty
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and the alchemy begins
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the heat boils the water and flowers
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until the emits steam
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it condenses as it travels through this
[134]
hollow bamboo pipe or changa
[137]
that connects to the papka a smaller
[140]
container filled with sandalwood oil
[142]
that forms the base of atar
[152]
this is where every last drop of
[154]
fragrant water will gather over 6 hours
[160]
in the meantime workers constantly check
[162]
the temperatures of the different
[163]
vessels
[164]
using their hands and years of
[166]
experience instead of
[168]
thermometers they monitor the fire to
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make sure that the eggs are warm enough
[172]
to create steam but not too much
[175]
otherwise it can destroy the scent
[178]
they also have to make sure the popcor
[180]
stays cool enough to turn the steam back
[183]
into liquid
[186]
this is a job which requires a lot of
[188]
patience it requires a lot of time and
[190]
effort the input has to be good to get
[193]
great outcomes so
[195]
all the every
[196]
stage of our of our process has to be
[200]
given a lot of focus and to be done with
[202]
a lot of concentration and any slip-off
[204]
can you know have negative results
[208]
and the result is the all-natural utter
[211]
free from any alcohol or artificial
[213]
chemicals
[215]
with a scent that can linger for days
[219]
here they make over 15 different kinds
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of oils
[223]
but one of their most prized is mitti
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atar literally meaning earth perfume
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when let's say
[232]
there is rain on dry purged
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earth and you know the smell the sweet
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soothing smell that one gets so that's
[240]
the smell that you can expect from other
[242]
methods
[245]
to recreate the smell of earth they use
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old clay pots that were used for spices
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or tea
[251]
they crush the pots and add them to the
[253]
water just as they did with the roses
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but while rosetta is made in a day
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others can take weeks or even months to
[261]
produce
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they are distilled and redistilled till
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the smell is potent enough
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the last step is the bottling process
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it's also old school using a funnel and
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a bucket every tiny bottle is filled by
[277]
hand
[279]
expensive utters can sell for 10 000
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indian rupees or 135 us dollars
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and that's the price for just two
[288]
teaspoons of it
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the raw materials are costly and it
[292]
takes a lot to make just a little amount
[308]
foreign
[318]
for at least 400 years
[321]
as a matter of fact
[323]
cannot has got the
[325]
geographical indication for another so
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technically
[331]
uh
[332]
an author can only be from canada but
[335]
the method of steam distilling is said
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to have originated in ancient persia and
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the middle east thousands of years ago
[342]
in india it was popularized by mughal
[345]
kings during the 17th century
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but these days young brand conscious
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indians mostly use western perfumes
[354]
as a result in the last 20 years 80
[357]
percent of india's traditional
[358]
distilleries have closed down
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and the people of kanoj have felt the
[363]
decline
[366]
so the whole town is involved in in the
[368]
business of perfumery i would say uh
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about 80 to 85 percent of the people
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living in the industry in in the town
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are associated to the perfume industry
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in one way or the other
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a lot of people say that you know it's
[382]
losing its shame and stuff like that but
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i we personally don't feel that way
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every day we strive to
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innovate and you know
[391]
find a new application for our oils so
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we've seen growth no doubt
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muslims all across south asia have used
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atar for centuries it's believed to be
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one of prophet muhammad's most prized
[404]
possessions
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[Music]
[413]
and outside of india these chemical free
[415]
uttars are popular in the middle east
[418]
european fragrance houses have also been
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importing uttar to use it as an
[423]
ingredient in their modern perfumes
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breathing new life into an ancient
[428]
industry
[429]
we are very proud of our lineage and but
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at the same time it's a lot of
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responsibility as well when you have to
[436]
maintain and sustain certain standards
[439]
then that becomes difficult makes us
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proud to carry forward a legacy of five
[444]
generations
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after all
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recreating the smell of rain on earth is
[449]
no small legacy
[453]
[Music]
[464]
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