Festive scents: where the fragrances of Christmas come from

On a December evening you often smell Christmas first at the door. Outside, the cold is so dry that you can hardly smell anything, at most the smoke drifting across from a farmhouse further up. Then the door opens, and everything comes at once: orange peel, cinnamon, a candle just blown out.

Most of these scents have travelled a long way. For centuries, frankincense, myrrh, cinnamon and nutmeg came from places that hardly anyone in the Alps had ever seen, and for a long time they were so precious that they were kept for special occasions. Perhaps that is why they still smell of celebration today.

Frankincense and myrrh

Frankincense is the dried resin of a tree that grows in the stony desert. The most sought-after kind comes from Boswellia sacra in the Dhofar region of southern Oman. It is still harvested in the traditional way: from late March, collectors make shallow cuts in the bark. The first white sap is of no use and is scraped off after about three weeks. Only what seeps out afterwards is harvested, roughly every three weeks, and dried in the desert heat. The most valuable resin is considered to come from the edge of the desert, yellowish-white and clear.

In antiquity, caravans carried it along the so-called Incense Route for around 3,200 kilometres to the Mediterranean, a journey of 70 to 90 days. Myrrh, the second resin of the Christmas story, comes from related trees of the genus Commiphora, mainly from Somalia. Its scent is darker than that of frankincense: warm, bitter and balsamic.

Cinnamon and nutmeg

Not all cinnamon is the same. What is often sold in supermarkets is cassia, the thick bark of the Chinese cinnamon tree. Ceylon cinnamon, by contrast, comes from Cinnamomum verum, mainly from Sri Lanka. Only the thin inner bark is used. It curls in from both sides as it dries, and several of these layers are fitted inside one another to form the fine, brittle quills by which it is recognised. Its scent is finer and sweeter than cassia's, less sharp. Ceylon cinnamon bark is also what we use in ARVE Chaleureux.

Nutmeg is the seed of the nutmeg tree. For centuries it came mainly from the Banda Islands, a small group of islands in the Moluccas, and was so valuable that European powers fought bitterly and with great violence over them. Today it sits unobtrusively in every gingerbread. Its scent is earthy, warm and slightly sweet.

And outdoors?

A winter forest smells of less than you would expect. Cold slows down scent, and snow muffles a great deal anyway. All the more clearly you notice what still comes through: the resin of a stone pine that has caught a few hours of light on a sunny slope, or the woodsmoke from a chimney down in the valley.

Perhaps that is why ARVE Chaleureux suits these weeks so well, even though it does not set out to be a Christmas fragrance. It opens with Alpine stone pine and Ceylon cinnamon bark, with nutmeg, fig leaf and cedarwood at its heart, and finally moss, amber and a cashmere-wool accord. It is the scent of the last hour of sun, just before you go inside, where the cinnamon is already waiting.

If you would like to try Chaleureux first, you will find it together with Pétillant in the Discovery Set.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between Ceylon cinnamon and cassia? Ceylon cinnamon comes from Cinnamomum verum from Sri Lanka and consists of many thin, rolled layers of the inner bark. Cassia is the thicker bark of the Chinese cinnamon tree, sharper in taste and considerably richer in coumarin.

What is frankincense made from? From the resin of Boswellia trees. The bark is cut, and the resin that seeps out is collected and dried. The most sought-after kind comes from Dhofar in Oman.

Is ARVE Chaleureux a Christmas fragrance? Not in the strict sense. With Ceylon cinnamon bark, nutmeg and Alpine stone pine, though, it suits the cold season well.