Ooh this is a fruity, herby, resinous, lively tree resin which comes from Boswellia dalzielii in West Africa. It is a frankincense, though has rarely been studied. However, it was studied closely in 2019 when it was observed that the resin was used locally in the same manner as other frankincense resins, that the bark was traded for its range of medicinal uses (treating toothache, healing wounds, calming mental disorders, etc), and the resin contained similar, and at times greater, fragrant properties than other frankincense resins. Go fill your boots, this is good stuff.
Available (bark and resin) on Etsy from the useful Jarguna, who also sells halmaddi.
Available (bark and resin) on Etsy from the useful Jarguna, who also sells halmaddi.
That's the first time I'm hearing that B. dalzielii isn't considered a true frankincense. Are you saying that because it's missing in that paragraph in the Frankincense Wiki you linked?
ReplyDeleteThanks for that Irene. I took the Wikipedia article at face value. Looking at the National Geographic article which is sourced for that statement, it doesn't state that at all. And a further search doesn't support that claim either. I don't think the Wikipedia article was wrong as such, simply poorly phrased. I have adjusted it now for clarity. And I'll amend my article.
DeleteThanks again!
By the way, are you familiar with the term Janawi?
DeleteNo problem! Yes, I agree; poorly worded.
ReplyDeleteYes, I'm familiar with the term Janawi, and Harrabi seems to be another local name for B. dalzielii.
I just prefer to use botanical names, as they offer less room for confusion. However, I like to add local and common names to my notes, and names in different languages if the ingredient is wildly used in incense making around the world.
BTW. I had two different harvest batches of Jarguna's Janawi and found both extraordinarily beautiful. B. dalzielii is one of my favourite frankincense varieties in general.
Ups, forgot to add my name. haha
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of "false" Frankincense - have you heard of Commiphora confusa? It's a Myrrh that smells like Frankincense! :D
In regard to "false" or "non-true" frankincense, I suspect the writer who added that comment (back in 2009!), was thinking in terms of the use of the term frankincense in India and other places for any tree resin. And I understand that usage as the term just means good incense - the word does not specify a tree. Given that tree resins are closely related, and often, as you indicate with Commiphora confusa (which I'd not heard of), look, smell, and behave in similar manners, I'm not surprised that some cultures just lump them all together as good quality tree resins. When recently burning some dammar gum I was struck by how similar it was to copal.
DeleteI think some cultures look closely at differences, and others look more closely at similarities. I think I tend to lean more toward looking for similarities. I recall when I was an insurance agent for United Friendly in my twenties, I had a client base of around 300 customers. I was driving my manager to see some of my customers on business. He asked me about the next person we were about to see, "Is she West Indian?". It may seem odd, but at that moment I couldn't recall. I recalled a number of features about her - her friendly, welcoming nature, etc, but at that point I couldn't quite bring her appearance specifically to mind.