“It was very pleasant to savour its aroma, for smells have the power to evoke the past, bringing back sounds and even other smells that have no match in the present.”
"Like Water for Chocolate" ― Laura Esquivel
I love the smell of fragrant flowers, baking cinnamon buns, that sweet clean scent of a just bathed baby. Funny, isn’t it how good smells are a big element in our sensation of comfort?
There’s so much of the pleasure lost today – fruit that’s been irradiated and in cold storage for weeks doesn’t have that intense, fruity aroma of a vine ripened, sun warmed granadilla. And let’s not talk about those perfect, beautiful tunnel grown flowers with no smell at all… so disappointing, they may as well be plastic.
Of all the five senses, smell is most linked to our memories, our past; but best smells do change, our “noses” develop, and our olfactory abilities can be trained. I have many, much-loved scents although I don’t know when or how they all became so special, but pleasant smells are very personal and we all have our picks. The following ten in no particular order, are my favourites …
- Freshly baked bread
- Frangipani Flowers (Plumeria)
- Lavender and beeswax wood polish
- Approaching summer storms (smell of rain)
- A bowl of freshly picked, sun ripened lemons
- Roses – (preferable dark red Damask roses)
- Vanilla
- Fresh brewed coffee
- Eucalyptus (Blue Gum)
- Ripe Cantaloupe (Rock melon, Spanspek)
These are mine. What have I left out? What are your favourites?
