Cumin
11 fragrances with this note
Part of accords: Warm spicy, Animalic, Spicy oriental
- Latin name
- Cuminum cyminum
- Family
- Carrot family (Apiaceae)
- Origin
- India, Iran, Turkey, Egypt
- Parts used
- seeds (fruits)
- Raw materials
- essential oil, CO₂ extract
- Extraction
- steam distillation of crushed seeds
- Olfactory group
- spicy (warm, skin-like)
- Position in the pyramid
- heart
- Synthetic substitutes
- cuminaldehyde
Cumin is an annual plant of the carrot family, and its elongated ribbed seeds are one of the main spices of India, the Middle East and North Africa. It is the seeds that give the essential oil.
How it smells: warm, spicy and earthy, with a characteristic “bodily” shade, like warm skin after the heat. In small amounts cumin sounds sensual and intriguing; in large ones, too “culinary”.
Perfumers use cumin as a pinch of sensuality: a few drops make flowers warmer and more alive, and woody compositions more skin-like. But it is one of the notes people perceive very differently: some love it, others do not.
What it pairs with: with jasmine and tuberose — sensual, warm, skin-like white florals, with rose — a spicy Middle Eastern rose, with oud and leather — dark animalic compositions, with cardamom and coriander — a spice accord, with vanilla — warm depth.
Good to know: cumin is often confused with caraway, but they are different plants with different smells: cumin is hot and skin-like, caraway fresher, with an anise-and-rye-bread character.
Fragrances with Cumin
