Galbanum Essential oil Spain

This herbaceous plant of the high-desert regions reproduces only by seed. During germination, it develops a deep, filiform root and a stem with two small leaves, which dry in May. The plant will only produce vegetation again the following year. In the third year, an outgrowth forms on the root collar. This growth will be the source of the galbanum gum, from the third to the seventh year. In May-June, when the leaves are dry, the plant’s roots are exposed and the outgrowth is scored. A white to straw-yellow resin then leaks out, to slowly solidify upon exposure to the air. The gum is collected a few days later. Two to three new cuts are made successively on the previous gashes. The exudate yield progressively increases with the number of cuts.

Mentioned in the texts of all major ancient civilizations, galbanum was long ago assigned mystical and healing powers. According to Exodus, it is part of the “perfumes” God revealed to Moses on Mount Sinai: “Take fragrant spices--gum resin, onycha and galbanum--and pure frankincense, all in equal amounts.” “Soft galbanum” – also called “Levant galbanum” – is the one used in perfumery. The gum hardens with time in the form of rounded, sticky, yellow to reddish tears. It has a characteristic green, woody fragrance.

Advised uses : Aromatherapy, Perfumery, Cosmetic, Alimentary