Jasmin de Grasse

Grasse transformed itself in the 17th century. The town moved beyond leather tanning, embracing flower cultivation as its new identity. By the late 18th century, it had become France's perfume capital.

Jasmine arrived via Italy, adapted to the Provençal microclimate after originating in Mexico. The flower found its perfect home in Grasse's limestone soil and Mediterranean warmth. By the 1850s, jasmine had become one of the region's flagship crops.

In the early 1900s, Grasse dedicated approximately 12,000 acres to flower cultivation. Jasmine harvests reached nearly 2,000 tons annually. This abundance supplied perfume houses across Europe.

Today, fewer than 15 tons of jasmine are produced each year in Grasse. A single family, the Muls, supplies most of the remaining harvest. This dramatic decline reflects changing agricultural economics and urbanization.

The jasmine blossom remains tattooed on Grasse's identity, much as one appears in the emblem of the town's perfume museum. This flower connects the town's modern perfumers to centuries of unbroken cultivation tradition, a living link to when Grasse first proved that France could grow flowers as beautiful as its fragrances.