- Latin name
- Rubus fruticosus
- Family
- Rose family (Rosaceae)
- Origin
- the scent is created in the laboratory
- Parts used
- no perfumery material is obtained from the berries
- Raw materials
- berry accords
- Extraction
- synthesis
- Olfactory group
- fruity
- Position in the pyramid
- top and heart
- Synthetic substitutes
- raspberry ketone, ionones, fruity esters
The blackberry is a wild woodland berry from thorny bushes that grow all over Europe along roadsides and forest edges. Its scent in perfume is recreated as an accord, because no lasting material is obtained from the berries themselves.
How it smells: juicy, dark and sweet-sour: a ripe black berry, jam, a faintly woodland and green leafy shade. Blackberry sounds deeper and darker than raspberry, with a light winey astringency.
Blackberry gives a fragrance a “wild” naturalness: it is often combined with greens and woods to convey a late-summer walk in the woods rather than a sweet candy.
What it pairs with: with bay leaf and greens — fresh “woodland” compositions, with rose — a dark berry rose, with violet — powdery-berry ones, with patchouli — a fruity chypre, with vanilla — a “berry pie”.
Good to know: by an old British custom, blackberries should not be picked after Michaelmas at the end of September: legend says the devil spoils the berries on that day. In reality the berries simply turn watery and lose flavour by autumn.
