WHAT IS SWEETGRASS?
Hierochloe odorata or Anthoxanthum nitens, commonly known as sweet grass, manna grass, Mary’s grass or vanilla grass, and as holy grass in the UK, and bison grass by Polish vodka producers.
This an aromatic herb native to Northern Europe and North America has a distinctive sweet scent due to the presence of coumarin.
Sweetgrass is an extremely hardy perennial herb with a sweet, long-lasting, vanilla-like fragrance. It grows naturally in the nutrient-rich soil of wet meadows; low prairies, cool mountain canyons, and the shady banks of streams and rivers.
Sweetgrass has been used for thousands of years to defend against biting insects. It was traditionally burnt to saturate into clothing and homes but sachets of sweetgrass were also worn around the body to deter biting bugs.
Recent studies by the U.S. Department of Agriculture have validated that sweetgrass molecules have mosquito repellent properties. Not only that, but these experiments proved a similar repellency to DEET.
American Chemical Society | 2015
