23/05/2017
Khumra – Sudanese Traditional Perfumes
"The technique generally used to prepare
the traditional perfumes is unique. The
smoking of ingredients is unusual and I
have not come across it in any other
perfumery techniques. First a paste is made
from the powdered dried ingredients such
as mahleb seeds, cloves, nutmeg, dufr,
sandalwood and musk, and sometimes even
dried apples studded with cloves and
orange peels are added. This paste is then
smoked in a charcoal fire with pieces of
sandalwood and local aromatic woods. After
smoking the paste Frankincense, myrrh and
various liquid aromatic oils is added and the
smoked paste is then infused in oil to
produce the perfume.
The making of perfumes is an important
part of Sudanese wedding rituals. The
preparations for the wedding perfumes
start about a month before the wedding by
the women of the bride’s relatives and
friends and it is a skill that is passed on by
through family members."
