Warm, sweet balsamic resin with a distinct vanilla-cinnamon character and a soft smoky-woody undertone. Rich and syrupy on the blotter, developing a slightly powdery, almost benzoin-like sweetness as it dries down.AI · claude-opus-4-7
Composition, IFRA restriction figures, allergen concentrations and where this material is bought are part of Perfume Foundry’s curated library and need an account. Create one or sign in.
Perfume and Flavor Materials of Natural Origin, page 324.
It is a pale yellow or pale amber-colored mass of white crystals in a viscous yellowish colored liquid.
The odor is truly balsamic, rich, deep-sweet, slightly spicy and vanillin-sweet. A distinct smoky undertone is natural, but should not be predominant, and may fade away after proper ageing of the oil.
Its taste is bitter, and it causes at reasonable use level a somewhat burning sensation on the tongue. It might be used in traces in chocolate flavors.
Its suave odor makes Peru balsam oil a very versatile perfume material which can be incorporated in almost any type of perfume base or perfume at concentrations of from less than one percent up to more than five percent. For delicate floral fragrances such as muguet, lilac, appleblossom, etc., this oil blends excellently with floral as well as with balsamic or spicy notes. With araucaria oil or sandalwood oil it blends to a delightfully sweet 'precious wood' type like cabreuva oil. In gardenia, longoza, tuberose and carnation bases or duplications it forms an important part of the long-lasting, sweet undertone with undecanolide, nonanolide, ylang-ylang and other heavy and sweet-floral notes. It imparts depth and natural spicy sweetness to a rose, and warm, balsamic body in ambre or Oriental bases, 'powder' type fragrances, etc.
To the author's knowledge, Peru balsam oil has little or no use in flavor work.
When Peru balsam is steam distilled, it gives a very poor yield of essential oil. Until good and efficient, high-vacuum stills were developed, various so-called Peru balsam oils were available: alcohol extracts, co-distillates, anhydrols, etc. An almost 'total' oil of Peru balsam is prepared today by several manufacturers who distil the balsam in medium-sized, all-glass vacuum stills at about 2 mm. Hg.-pressure or lower.