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Onion and/or garlic

post #1 of 13
9/25/12 at 1:45pm
Thread Starter 
Is there any common perfumery ingredient used to reproduce an onion or garlic note? I now that sulfides and generally "thio" compounds are the main chemical components of these products smell but can they be used in perfumery? Or is it possibile to use directly onion and garlic EOs?
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post #2 of 13
9/25/12 at 8:43pm
What a coincidence. Just yesterday I was wondering when someone would start this very thread.
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post #3 of 13
9/25/12 at 10:50pm
Onion scents could replace the current "oud" trend...


Prada "Infusion d'Onion"

Montale "White Granex Aoud"

Le Labo "Vidalia 13"

Any Takers??
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post #4 of 13
9/26/12 at 12:21am
I saw a garlic EO only yesterday... could it really smell nice?

Add some red wine EO for

Halitosis "L'eau de le matin"

Add some cumin for

Le Pits "L'extrusions magnifique"
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post #5 of 13
9/26/12 at 1:20am
Have smelt both onion and garlic extracts, used in flavouring. You certainly don't need much! Also smelt leek extract, which is utterly vile; the worst of the three. A touch of either works really well with very green notes, especially Galbanum. More common to Perfumery (although not that common) is Asafoetida which smells like Garlic that has gone bad. Used in Indian cooking, and is often used to extend Galbanum oil. Add a touch of Asafoetida and dilute your Galbanum with some Pine oil. Happens quite often.
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post #6 of 13
9/26/12 at 2:12am
I just love the fact that a really fairly horrid smell can enhance another. The stinkier factions of perfumery are something I have been toying with recently and finding all sorts of interesting nuances that I wouldn't have investigated. I am going to have to smell these because I find it hard to imagine how garlic or onions can enhance anything other than food. I think I may have smelled Asafoetida. I wonder how much the word fetid is a coincidence.

I found this:- http://www.gourmetgarlicgardens.com/...anchoroverview

and this:- http://www.herballegacy.com/Wilson_Chemical.html
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post #7 of 13
9/26/12 at 4:45am
Thread Starter 
From Wikipedia: Asafoetida's English and scientific name is derived from the Persian word for resin (asa) and Latin foetida, which refers to its strong sulfurous odour.
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post #8 of 13
9/26/12 at 7:00am
Laughing at the "new" onion-based frags... Vidalia 13, by usual Le Labo standards, will smell not of sweet onions but of garlic.

cacio
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post #9 of 13
9/26/12 at 7:38am
Thread Starter 
Gosh I wasn't aware of this new fashiong coming up. I guess I'll wait for it to pass before trying something with onions
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post #10 of 13
9/26/12 at 8:30am
EO of garlic is awfull, you smell it trough several layers of well sealed plastic foil. I think that even a 0.1% solution is useless in perfumes. In case you want an awfull fragrance: use lots of it.
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post #11 of 13
9/26/12 at 9:21am
The "stinkers' are vital to perfumery. Think of them as you would a touch of spice in a meal. Imagine a soup without any salt, it would taste dull. Imagine swallowing a spoonful of salt, you would throw up. But, imagine a sprinkle of salt in your soup; it comes alive.

Garlic and Onion oils, as well as Asafoedita should be used (if at all) as 0.01% solutions at the very most. A little goes a very long way.

I have always maintained that perfumers and flavourists should talk more. Flavourists use the most amazing, and often disgusting, materials to achieve wonderful results. We should follow suite. Sulphur containing chemicals often provide a unique tropical fruit note. Pyrazines should be used to provide anything from pop corn to bell peppers. DiMethyl Sulphide (which occurs in Geranium oil) is very volatile and smells of boiled cabbage. If you want a lychee note, you have to use it.

I could go on.
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post #12 of 13
9/26/12 at 11:03am
Thread Starter 
For the record, the reason why we feel so heavily the odour of these sulfur containing molecules is that our nose evolution brought it to be able to detect very tiny amounts of hydrogen sulfide, a highly toxic gas, which is somehow a very close "relative" of the organic sulfides found in onion and garlic. Actually we could be able to detect it down to a concentration of 1 ppb (parts per billion, like 1 mg of it every 1000 kg of normal air) even though the first damages come at concentrations about 50000 times higher.
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post #13 of 13
10/7/12 at 3:27pm
I'm so happy that somebody started this thread - multiple times before I assumed that I must be demented when I think to myself "Onions, that could be so interesting in perfume". I'm wondering which part of the "onion smell" it is that most of you are hoping to work with. The fresh cut smell? The smell during a sauté? Caramelized? I always thought that the smell that is left on your hands after you cut onions is such an interesting one. To me, it repels as much as it attracts in a very strange, compulsive way.
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