The Diary of a Nose (12 page)

CACHOU

Although the name
cachou
may not mean much to English readers, there are similar bitter, minty lozenges in many countries, and they are a part of my childhood. My maternal grandmother carried
cachous
in her black handbag, and offered me some every time I saw her. I tasted them, and then swiftly went off to hide and spit them out. As a child, I did not like bitter tastes
.

CANDYFLOSS

Whether it is white, pink or green, candyfloss is more a smell associated with carnivals and children’s amusements than a taste – because then it is merely sugar
.

CARAMEL

Absolute of tonka bean and bezoin resinoid both evoke caramel. The olfactory illusion is perfected by associating vanillin and methyl cyclopentenolone
.

CHERRY

I like cherries picked straight from the tree, perhaps because they are a symbol of spring, but mainly because they are crisp, acidic and sugary. The taste we remember is mostly the flavor in, say, yogurts, and this condemns us to the same bland olfactory reference
.

CHOCOLATE

The aroma of cocoa beans alone is made up of hundreds of molecules, but, by roasting the beans, man has given this distinctive flavor a very human complexity because he has tripled the number of odorous components. This juxtaposition of smells demonstrates that perfumers are above all illusionists
.

To ‘make’ plain chocolate, I recommend adding patchouli; for a ganache, a trace of civet; for ‘orangette’,
⁷
orange zest; for an After Eight, spearmint; and for the smell of cocoa powder, concrete of iris.

FIG

Stemone gives an impression of mint leaves or fig leaves, it all depends on what I want to make it say
.

For the smell of ripe figs, I recommend adding ethyl maltol, but for dried figs the answer lies in concrete of iris
.

GARDENIA

The gardenia perfume I like best is Chanel’s, because it does not smell of the flower but of happiness. The fragrance of gardenias is a drama played out somewhere between jasmine and tuberose
.

GRAPEFRUIT

If there is one disappointment for perfumers, it must be grapefruit because, although it has its own essence, this essence smells of oranges. Fortunately, our arsenal includes sufficient artifice to satisfy the enthusiast
.

HYACINTH

‘… The smell persists, always the same, always so precise and so demanding, insisting that I carry on seeing images of vats of wine superimposed over the real image of my books until the moment when I finally grasp that it is simply (but what an admirable entanglement of riches in that simplicity!), it is simply the smell of three hyacinths in flower.’ Jean Giono in
Arcadia! Arcadia!

Adding indole brings the hyacinth more fully into bloom, while cis-3 hexenol evokes hyacinths in bud
.

JASMINE

As a child I liked to go out at dawn and – using my thumb, index finger and middle finger – pick porcelain-white jasmine flowers, intoxicated by their light, tender, green fragrance. Towards noon, the last chalky-white petals exhaled a warm scent of orange blossom. By evening, the forgotten, yellowing flowers gave off a penetrating, animal smell of big cats
.

LILY

Lilies ‘announce’! In the fifteenth century many paintings by Italian masters depicted the angel Gabriel handing lilies to Mary as he announces that she is to be a mother. The choice of lilies is never made innocently. Their shape and color are symbolic, but their smell also contributes to their symbolism
.

Depending on botanical varieties, you can add linalool, indole or geraniol
.

LIME BLOSSOM

I have never succeeded in using this tree’s blossom to my advantage. All I can do is fall asleep in its dark shade
.

MANGO

I bring it to my nose. The smell seduces me. A profusion of fragrant images, resin, orange peel, grapefruit, carrot, sweet myrrh, juniper; a smell that is fresh yet sweet, energetic yet tender. I can’t resist it any longer. I let it caress my senses, overwhelming me with smells
.

OLIVE

This smell describes the Mediterranean single-handedly. From black olives to olive paste, via olive oil, my nose and palate find endless connections: smells of truffles, castoreum, human smells, smells I am drawn to
.

To which you can add styrax resinoid and thyme if you want to produce the taste of olive paste
.

PEAR

This Friday several stalls are selling winter pears, small crimson-colored pears whose fragrance reigns over the market …

PINEAPPLE

This exotic fruit needs few elements to express itself. A simple molecule called allyl hexanoate smells of pineapple, but also evokes some kinds of apple; there are sometimes tenuous differences between two smells. To get the pineapple smell just right it is important to add ethyl maltol
.

PISTACHIO

I think you have to be a Turk truly to know the taste of pistachios. On every street corner in Istanbul, traders go to ingenious lengths to build pink hills of pistachios on their stalls, and they make little paper cornets to sell fifty kurus’ worth of them
.

RASPBERRY

Unlike cherries, which have more taste than smell, raspberries are all about smell
.

Adding cis-3 hexenol gives a sour, green quality, while geraniol will give a taste of lipstick
.

STRAWBERRY

As an apprentice perfumer, I learned that the smell of strawberries could be made with C-16 aldehyde, which is known as ‘strawberry’ – both terms are misnomers because chemically it is in fact acetone, and it smells mainly of apples. I would suggest another combination:

And for wild strawberries:

SUGARED ALMONDS

I asked a girl on work experience with me to create the smell of sugared almonds in a few words. She bought a hundred grams of the best sugared almonds from a confectioner, and this is what she wrote:

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the people who encouraged me to write, and those who read this diary at different stages in its development – some of them even on several occasions – and who demonstrated their friendship with their suggestions and comments. My thanks for this generosity go to: Susannah, Annelise Roux, Julie Gazier, François Simon, Marie-Dominique Lelièvre, Olivier Monteil, Catherine Fulconis, Quentin Bertoux and Stéphane Wargnier.