For thousands of years agarwood has been known as the wood of the gods first grader Garwood can cost as much as a hundred thousand dollars per kilogram making it one of the most expensive raw materials in the world but for this tree to produce any agarwood it must first become infected with mold. so how does this infection process work.

What is agarwood used for and what makes it so valuable Aquilaria malaccensis is a tree native to the rainforests of southeast Asia prior to infection the healthy heartwood inside Aquilaria trees is pale odorless and worthless however in the wild damage to the tree by external forces such as grazing animals sporadically results in the growth of a specific type of fungal infection inside the tree called phyllophorid, parasitica the Aquilaria's defense to this attack is to produce a stress-induced aromatic resin called aloes which is dark and moist over the course of several years the aloes slowly embed into the heartwood to create a guar wood container.

Agarwood tree

Once again is harvested it needs to be separated from the healthy Aquilaria wood around it in a painstaking task that often takes hours resin infused chips also known as ood are carved out by hand ood chips are commonly used as incense particularly in the middle east.

Where they're burnt both as tokens of hospitality and infused into clothes and garments as a perfume cookie food is also distilled into an essential oil and in its purest form aged ood oil can cost up to eighty thousand dollars per litre earning the nickname amongst traders of liquid gold as its popularity continues to grow in the west food has become a common ingredient in several high-value fragrances adding a warm musky aroma but due to unsustainable production and poaching all varieties of Aquilaria trees are now classified as critically endangered with experts estimating the global population has declined by 80 percent over the last 150 years even for those surviving Aquilaria trees the frequency of natural fungal infection is extremely low some estimates say only two percent of wild Aquilaria trees are adequately infected to produce a Garwood naturally meaning the hunt to find natural agarwood is extremely arduous natural agarwood now bordering on extinction in some forestries like this one managed by truong in Vietnam trees are artificially inoculated with a microbial compound to induce the all-important resin foreign.

Agarwood tree 1

Agar wood was described as a fragrant product of wealth and luxury in one of the world's oldest written texts the Sanskrit vaders dating back as early as 1400 bc the aroma produced from agarwood has been highly valued by many cultures and religions throughout history in the nirvana sutra aloes is mentioned as a heavenly wood used in the cremation of buddha in the new testament Jesus body was anointed with a mixture of myrrh and aloes following his crucifixion and in the sahih al-Buhari hadith the description of paradise by Allah's messenger includes the burning of agarwood as incense the global market for agarwood is estimated to be worth a staggering 32 billion dollars but where ood was once so common high demand has not only increased the price but also the rate of harvesting and artificial production by the end of 2029 the market is expected to double to 64 billion dollars?

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