Mul, the owner of the jasmine fields in Grasse took me through the entire process of how jasmine grows and gets picked, extracted and distilled. (Grasse, a beautiful yet simple farming town in France, is where many perfumers throughout history came to get supplies for scents.)

What's amazing about jasmine is that every single flower is picked off of every single plant in the field on a daily basis, and by the next day new flowers have grown where the others were picked -- pretty cool, right?

This is how in only three months these jasmine fields are able to produce the 20 tons of flowers harvested each year for fragrance. I was struck by how quickly the men and women in these fields pick the flowers. See them in action above. In only two or so hours, they had full baskets. (Yes, they handpick every single flower and place them into baskets (see below)!

Check in tomorrow to find out what happens after the flowers are picked ...