Black Pepper
13 fragrances with this note
Part of accords: Warm spicy, Fresh spicy
- Latin name
- Piper nigrum
- Family
- Pepper family (Piperaceae)
- Origin
- India (Kerala), Vietnam, Madagascar, Sri Lanka
- Parts used
- dried unripe fruits
- Raw materials
- essential oil, CO₂ extract
- Extraction
- steam distillation or CO₂ extraction
- Olfactory group
- spicy
- Position in the pyramid
- top note
- Synthetic substitutes
- rotundone, caryophyllene, limonene
Black pepper is the unripe green fruit of the pepper vine, quickly dried in the sun: the skin darkens and wrinkles. It is this skin that holds most of the aromatic substances.
How it smells: dry, spicy, slightly woody and piney, with a light spark. CO₂ extract comes closest to freshly ground pepper — warm, full-bodied and deep; the essential oil is fresher and lighter.
The characteristic pepperiness comes from the molecule rotundone — the same one responsible for the peppery shade in Shiraz wines. Some people barely smell rotundone, so they perceive pepper in fragrances more weakly.
What it pairs with: with bergamot and grapefruit — a fresh spicy opening, with incense and cedar — dry resinous-woody compositions, with rose — a modern “spiced rose”, with vetiver — a restrained masculine character, with amber — warm depth.
Good to know: when Alaric's Visigoths besieged Rome in 408, the ransom they demanded included three thousand pounds of pepper — alongside gold and silver.
Fragrances with Black Pepper
