- Latin name
- Citrus junos
- Family
- Rue family (Rutaceae)
- Origin
- Japan, Korea, China
- Parts used
- fruit peel
- Raw materials
- essential oil
- Extraction
- cold pressing or distillation of the peel
- Olfactory group
- citrus
- Position in the pyramid
- top note
- Synthetic substitutes
- citrus bases with grapefruit and mandarin molecules
Yuzu is a small yellow citrus fruit with bumpy skin, much loved in Japanese cuisine. It has little flesh, and that is very sour, but the peel is extraordinarily fragrant — and that is what perfumery uses.
How it smells: fresh and complex: like a blend of grapefruit, mandarin and lime with a floral and faintly herbal shade. Yuzu sounds more graceful and cooler than ordinary citrus, with a Japanese restraint.
Yuzu oil is expensive and produced in small quantities, so in perfume it is often supported with citrus bases. Yuzu has become popular in niche perfumery as a note of “Asian freshness” and cleanness.
What it pairs with: with green tea — transparent “Japanese” compositions, with ginger and Sichuan pepper — spicy freshness, with flowers — light spring scents, with cedar and hinoki — “zen” woods, with musk — clean skin fragrances.
Good to know: in Japan there is a tradition of taking a bath with yuzu fruits on the winter solstice — yuzu-yu — to keep warm and welcome the new cycle of the year.
