_TONKA BEAN_01.png "TONKA BEAN")
| | | INCI: | Perfume | | Note type: | COUMARIN, TYPICAL |
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TONKA BEANPerfume
Plant native to South America (Guyana, Brazil and Venezuela), it is also called "Cumarina odorata". Today it is also grown in West Africa though most of the beans destined for processing in Europe come from South America.
It consists of a large tropical tree that can grow up to thirty metres tall with large elliptical leaves, violet flowers and fruits containing a single dark seed: the appreciated and sought-after "Tonka Bean", with a pleasant vanilla-almond scent with spiced undertone that calls to mind cinnamon and clove.
The fatty substance extracted from these "beans" is traditionally sold in Holland with the name "Tarquin Butter", an ancient home remedy against moths.
EXTRACTION
OLFACTIVE AFFINITIES
A concrete essence is obtained from the bean through solvent extraction; this essence is distilled to obtain a dark amber-coloured absolute essence with a semi-solid appearance. Its characteristic walnut fragrance - warm, sweet, spicy with an herbaceous undertone - is unmistakable and combines wonderfully solubilised in essential oils of bergamot, citronella, helichrysum, lavender, clary sage, storax, and with oakmoss absolute.
PROPERTIES
A narcotic and insecticide of proven reputation, the precious natural Tonka Bean absolute (main ingredient amongst those processed by us to formulate our essence in oil) would be - as is - more or less unusable by the end user as it is, amongst other things, not just in the semi-solid state, but toxic as well.
Similarly to the natural absolute, our composition has those remarkable fixative properties that, in perfumery, made this exotic raw material famous in past centuries.
Tonka Bean essence in oil is used classically as a fixative and/or ingredient in high class oriental fragrances and also as flavouring - in alternative to vanilla - for tobacco.
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