Musk is one of the four famous perfumes in ancient China, and it is a precious perfume, which was very rare in ancient times. Musk deer usually begins to secrete musk at about 2 years old, and secretes yellowish ointment-like secretion from scrotum, which will be stored in the sachet and then discharged from the central hole.
Two-year-old male musk deer began to secrete musk, and the optimal secretion period was about 10 years old, and each musk deer could secrete about 50g. In addition, muskrats and other aromatic animals also have similar musk secretions. Musk is granular or blocky after drying, which has a special aroma and bitterness. It can be made into perfume or used as medicine, which is very precious. Musk deer are mainly distributed in Tibet, Mongolia, the Middle East and Siberia. In order to extract one kilogram of musk, 30 to 50 adult male musk deer are needed.
Characteristics of musk:
1. Musk: it is an oblate or oval capsule with a diameter of 3~7cm and a thickness of 2~4cm. The opening surface is slightly convex, leathery and brown. Dense white or grayish brown short hair, arranged around the center from both sides, with 1 small capsule holes in the middle, with a diameter of 1 ~ 3 mm, and brownish purple on the other side, slightly shrunk, with occasional muscle fibers.
It is loose and elastic. After cutting open, it can be seen that the middle skin is brown or grayish brown, translucent, and the inner skin is brown, containing granular and powdery musk kernels and a small amount of fine hairs and falling off from the inner skin (commonly known as "silver skin").
2, musk kernels: wild people are soft, oily and loose; Among them, the granular ones are often called "chess pieces", which are irregular spherical or granular, with a purple-brown surface, shiny and slightly pitted, and a dark brown or yellowish brown cross section.
The powder is mostly brown or yellowish brown, with a small amount of shed endothelium and fine hair. The propagule is granular, short or unplanned. The surface is uneven, purple-black or dark brown, oily, slightly shiny, with a small amount of hair and peeling off the inner membrane. The smell is strong and specific, and the taste is slightly spicy, slightly bitter and salty.