the.com/frankincense
Tree sap so precious it outranked gold at the original baby shower.
means An aromatic resin obtained from Boswellia trees, burned as incense and prized since antiquity for its fragrant smoke in religious ritual and perfume.
from From Old French 'franc encens,' meaning 'high-quality incense' — here 'franc' carries its sense of 'pure, free, superior' (the same word that gives us 'frank' and 'franchise'), and 'encens' comes from Latin 'incensum,' 'that which is burnt,' from 'incendere,' 'to set on fire' (also the root of 'incendiary'). So the name simply means 'top-grade burning stuff' — a medieval merchant's quality stamp, made permanent.
- tree blood
- Harvested from cuts in Boswellia trees as hardened resin
- ancient currency
- Once traded ounce-for-ounce against gold and silver
- slow grower
- Trees take roughly a decade before yielding resin
- burns holy
- Smoke has perfumed temples for over 5,000 years
- endangered now
- Overtapping is killing wild Boswellia populations
omani frankincense — harvested from boswellia sacra trees in oman's dhofar region, prized since ancient times for arabian peninsula trade routes
socotra frankincense — produced on the island of socotra (yemen), considered highest quality with distinctive smoky aroma
somali frankincense — harvested from northeastern somalia, particularly around punt region, major export product historically