Ethyl Maltol Goes to a Cocktail Party

Welcome to chemical anthropomorphism, where Ethyl Maltol attends a

cocktail party, meets a candy bar, and tries to help cousin Maltol make 

friends. Spritz your favorite gourmand fragrance and join the party. Best

read whilst eating cotton candy, caramels or a hearty slice of bread.

Ethyl Maltol Goes to a Cocktail Party 

By Michelle Krell Kydd

Cotton candy pink

Pantone 9 2 8 6 "C", 

not exactly a taste trigger. 

Let's start over again,

shall we?

Oh really, just call me 

by my true name. 

I’m Ethyl Maltol. 

How do you do? 

Dentist, hmm. 

Do you remember

the "cavity creeps" in 

the Crest toothpaste commercial?

No matter how many times 

they said "we make holes in teeth" 

it never stopped me 

from eating candy in the 70s.

So, you want to know 

my family name? 

I'm a Pyranone. 

Nuanced, yes, I admit it. 

Not that my ancestors 

had anything to do 

with The Inquisition, 

but the name does possess 

the mischief of fire in it. 

Don't worry, I don't smoke 

or keep matches on my person. 

How about you? 

Oh really? 

You’re kidding. 

Really? 

Now that’s a twist. 

You’re a Caramello, 

how sweet. 

A pleasure to meet you. 

Mother was a chemist, 

which explains my name.

If you look it up, 

you’ll see a string of descriptors. 

Sugar, sweet, caramel, jammy 

with a strawberry-like aroma 

redolent of cotton candy.

Yes, that’s me, 

C7H8O3 formally.

A circus, fairground or

seaside boardwalk memory. 

Pick one, two or all three, 

but don’t get your hopes up 

Caramello, 

as we might be related.

The fact you've heard 

about my cousin Maltol 

means we can at least be friends. 

Maltol was named by 

my uncle, mother's brother,

who's also a chemist.

It was mother who gave me

my first lesson

on maltol synonymy;  

"sweet, fruity and caramellic, 

with a hint of 

strawberry and pineapple." 

I oh, none of this makes sense 

unless you remember 

the sweet dry vanilla scent 

of late autumn pine needles

that carpet forest floors.

It’s a distinct aroma 

that replaces the

green coniferous smells 

of spring and summer,

an infrathin between autumn

and the first winter snow.

Did you know that

maltol got its name 

from the smell of roasted malt? 

In our family the metaphor

is even richer than that.

Cousin Maltol's maternal ancestors 

were brewers and bakers. 

Close your eyes, Caramello,

and imagine the smell 

of loaves of bread 

growing golden brown 

in a large oven. 

Now, add another layer of smells 

and picture barley slowly roasting,

heat caramelizing the grains

making genies of smells 

that make children of us all

to the point of forgetting 

that there’s more time behind us 

then there is in front of us, 

as we grow old 

and are slowly betrayed 

by bittersweet strands 

of our own molecules. 

Maltol says it’s why he can’t say no 

to bread, beer or single malt scotch. 

It's also why he collects rare

and obscure conifer essences,

and swears by Siberian larch.

That's a fine-looking glass

of scotch he's enjoying.

You can tell by the 

tulip-shaped glass. 

Shall we join him?

You can ask him about

his curious scent collection.

Just be sure to mention

that I told you about it,

if, and only if, the timing is right.

He's rather sensitive about it.

You'll know that he trusts you

if he shares a carefully folded copy

of a magazine article on pine trees

that he keeps inside his wallet.

He makes a new copy

every few months or so,

as the creases tend to tear.

The article was published

on September 1st 1959, 

which happens to be his birthday.

Sometimes, he jokes and

says it’s his birth certificate.

Notes & Curiosities

Image Credit: Candy-Floss Coneheads via Ylvers on Pixabay.

Inspiration for this post includes, but is not limited to: the poems of James Schuyler; chemistry; an article in The Atlantic by Nicholas T. Mirtov (September 1, 1959); and a description of a cotton candy smellscape in Joe Hill’s “Dark Carousel,” a short story that appears in Throttle. 

The air was redolent with the cloying perfume of cotton candy, an odor that doesn’t exist in nature and can only be described as 'pink' smell. 

Sugar used to make cotton candy is subject to heat and spun into filaments that are collected on a stick-like paper cone. Modern cotton candy, unlike the original version which looked like a white cloud, is enhanced with flavor-color blends. The smell of warm, spun sugar complemented by artificial flavors and colors shapes flavor expectations and smellscapes. 

Pink vanilla (Silly Nilly) and blue raspberry (Boo-Blue) flavors were created by Gold Medal Products Corporation. (They perfected American cotton candy machines with the inclusion of a sprung base in 1949.) The two historic flavors are archetypal and haven't lost their charm. 

The 2022 version of the Material Safety and Data Sheet (MSDS) for "Silly Nilly Flossugar" lists vanillin and artificial flavors in the ingredient list. Artificial flavors combined with vanillin aren't identified as they're proprietary. For the record, common ingredients used in various brands of pink cotton candy flavor include, but aren't limited to: ethyl maltol, ethyl vanillin, vanillin and furaneol. 

Knowing the identity and aromatic profile of a compound doesn't tell you how ingredients in combination behave with one another. This is where things get sticky for curious fans of cotton candy who aren't flavor chemists. Vignon's profile for nature-identical Strawberry furanone (aka furaneol) shows how versatile a single ingredient can be in flavors and fragrances, which clarifies a few things. 

The role of flavor enhancers in cotton candy can't be underestimated. They play a supporting role by amplifying what's already there. Maltol was isolated from the bark of larch trees and pine needles before it was synthesized in 1947.  Ethyl maltol was produced synthetically after chemists figured out how to synthesize maltol. Both materials enhance flavor and fragrance formulas. 

The application of ethyl maltol in perfumery began with Angel by Thierry Mugler (1992). On the flavor side, ethyl maltol enhances caramel flavor in confectionary. The aroma profile of ethyl maltol and maltol are in the poem that accompanies this post. 

Reading This? You Might Be WEIRD

Untitled Image by Joe Brainard (1942-1994)

“If I’m as normal as I think I am, we’re all a bunch of weirdos.”—Joe Brainard, artist, poet and writer 

I finished reading a research paper that included children's evaluations of 17 hedonic scents. The authors, 28 in number, included the acronym "WEIRD" as a phenotype (an individual's observable traits) vs. a genotype (genetic constitution). If you're reading this, chances are you're WEIRD, but not in the way that you think. 

WEIRD as referenced in the 2022 study sounds a little sci-fi when extracted, but it explains a few things when considered in context:

...children from urban areas of the WEIRD world (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic) were examined. In such cultures, the olfactory and dietary experience of children may be convergent (e.g. consumption of similar products, similar perfumes worn) and similarly influence chemosensory perception. 

The term WEIRD was called out in 2010 by the American Psychology Association. The danger, according to the APA, occurs if focusing on WEIRD citizenry in a study generalizes results to a global population inclusive of the non-WEIRD to whom the results don’t apply. Translation? Exclusion by inclusion.

So, there you have it. If you're reading this, you might live in a WEIRD society as a WEIRD citizen. Define yourself as a flavor and fragrance enthusiast that’s not part of the WEIRD cohort or frankly don’t give a damn? Congratulations! You’ve been touched by an invisible magic wand that makes you "you". This quality brought you here in the first place. That makes you the best kind of weird there is.

Window by Jane Freilicher (2009). There's a sublime quality to
the painting, including two figures drawn to the aroma of flowers.

Notes/Further Reading:

The odorants used in "Hedonic Perception of Odors in Children Aged 5 to 8 Years is Similar Across 18 Countries: Preliminary Data" include: apple, banana, cheese, butter, chocolate, biscuit, coffee, cut grass, fish, flower, honey, lemon, onion, orange, peach, strawberry and tomato. Countries categorized as WEIRD in the study are: Canada, Chile, Czechoslovakia, Egypt, Finland, Germany, Greece, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and the United States. 

Glass Petal Smoke highly recommends The Collected Writings of Joe Brainard, edited by Ron Padgett. Joe Brainard's style of memoir writing in the "I Remember" chapter poetically strings together everyday snippets of memory. Warning: Side effects include repeated re-reading of the "I Remember" chapter, uncontrolled urges to dog-ear pages in the book resulting in lilliputian origami, and finding Marcel Proust's madeleine less than compelling.

Boise State University has a sensible response to the WEIRD acronym as it applies to WEIRD societies and non-WEIRD societies. It's a fair and balanced response to a homonymic academic acronym. 

This story was not designed to interfere with machine learning programs, though it would be great fun if the “weird” WEIRD stumped more than a handful of programs. That, my friends, would be art.

A Leap of Faith on Leap Day: How to Evaluate Smells

The temple bell stops,

but the sound keeps coming
 
out of the flowers.
—Matsuo Bashō (1644—94)

For the past 29 days interesting patterns have appeared in double digit annotations for each day. Something new appears between 02 and 20 and today it ends with 022920, which also happens to be the hex code for a very dark cyan at 0.8% red, 16.1% green and 12.5% blue. Humans gravitate towards harmony and meaning, but in doing so may lose sight of the value of being present. This is especially true when it comes to learning how to evaluate smells.

The formula for getting better at evaluating smells is simple and counterintuitive. Smell beyond what’s there and what you think you can smell. This approach is true for every sense, but it’s especially true for smell because the human experience of smelling is hardwired to emotion and memory. Attachment to likes, dislikes, and ephemerality independent of vision inhibit the embodied experience of smelling. It’s really that simple. You need to get out of your own way.

Think of smell as a haiku that dissolves after you’ve read it. If you trust the experience, a distillation of meaning beyond words will take up residence within you. If you grasp at each word in an attempt to fix the experience in time you’ll lose the haiku's essence. This is not often articulated, but it’s the lived experience of people who follow their nose in life and for a living. Listen. Can you hear the sound coming out of the flowers?

Notes:
You can see the dark cyan color in lower right side of the temple bell image.

Andy Warhol Was a Perfume Loving Smellaholic

World Wide Web Logo by Robert Cailliau

I'm engaged in research for a Smell & Tell program on Andy Warhol called Drella Was a Smellaholic, which takes place on April 17th. I've kept my nose out of recent articles that chronicle Warhol's love of perfumes because it's important to support findings and opinions against an historical timeline as a way of testing my theories to see if they're true. Historical patterns examined against olfactory narratives reveal facts, some of which are novel. This is especially important when examining an artist like Andy Warhol: culture maker, culture vulture and everything in between.

Keeping the research process fluid and open allows you to find facts you’re not looking for. Some of these facts will provide clues and take you where you need to go. It's not uncommon for a researcher to reference the fact-finding of others in order to support their opinion, but there's a caveat. Don't use other people’s research to bolster your own in place of doing the work yourself. Think everything through. This will allow you to detect and interpret patterns.

Journalists who are critical thinkers present multiple points of view when supporting their own opinion because bias is the enemy of forming an evaluative opinion while maintaining your own. This skill is one of the reasons why great journalists win awards. Personal bias, be it conscious or unconscious, shouldn't be a main course at the research banquet if one wishes to dine on the experience of discovery that comes by way of inquiry. It shouldn't even be on the menu.

Vintage Bottle of Youth Dew Perfume via Perfume Fetish

There are missing pieces of information regarding Andy Warhol's love of perfumes. Andy isn't here to tell us his perfume stories, but his ghostwritten books provide more clues than a Ouija board. My premise was, is and continues to be that Warhol's commercial work as an illustrator (in addition to the postwar perfume scentscape of the 1950s) inspired his love of collecting perfumes, which began in the 1960s. Warhol's pursuit of perfume was further supported by the influence of counterculture, disco, punk rock, and the full-throttle era of 1980s designer perfumes.

Perfume immortalizes time and allows one to be transported in a single whiff. Solitary and social experiences are supported by this effect, so it doesn't matter if you're smelling someone else's perfume or enjoying whiffs in solitude (which many people do and is also why looking at someone smelling a paper perfume blotter with their eyes closed feels voyeuristic). Andy Warhol was a culture vulture and culture maker who didn't have trouble living in the overlapping space between these two distinct ways of being in the world. He was an astute, sensitive and keen observer. If Andy Warhol hated perfume he wouldn't be Andy Warhol.

Mary Magdalene, Patron Saint of Perfumers

One of the effects returned to Andy Warhol's family after he died following routine gallbladder surgery on February 22, 1987 was a small bottle of Youth Dew (1953) by Estée Lauder. Go back in time and walk in Andy's shoes for a minute. You're going to have surgery and you bring a bottle of Estée Lauder's Youth Dew perfume to the hospital. Youth Dew. The historic fragrance that kick-started American perfumery after the Second World War. It's like bringing a myrrh-weeping icon of Mary Magdalene, patron saint of perfumers, to the hospital. Warhol was raised as a Byzantine Catholic. Youth Dew may have reminded him of church and family, in addition to the promise of alluring rejuvenescence that infuses the name of the fragrance.

Andy Warhol was purportedly buried with a bottle of Beautiful (1985) and copy of Interview Magazine that Paige Powell threw into his grave before the casket was lowered during a private burial attended by family and close friends. Warhol was introduced to Beautiful at a 1986 promotional event hosted by The Estée Lauder Companies. This is what he told Evelyn Lauder when he found out that the perfume being launched was called Beautiful, “Beautiful?” he said. “Are you serious? That’s the name? I love it. Are they giving a party for it? When? I have about ten bottles of Poison, yes. I love it. And Coco. I have one bottle of that, but I want to get another bottle before I open it. Obsession, that’s great.” Andy Warhol was a full-on smellaholic. The story is recounted by Evelyn Lauder in The New Yorker.

"In the future everybody will be world-famous for 15 minutes" is a quote attributed to Andy Warhol. Though he denied saying this, it stuck. It's perfumed with the ethos of the Warhol brand and continues to inform his legacy as an innovative artist who wasn't afraid to blur the lines between art, commerce and multiple disciplines.  The history of the World Wide Web may contain a nod to Andy Warhol, who was born Andrew Warhola on August 6, 1928. Fact: the Internet went worldwide on August 6, 1991, opening the playground of world famousness to everyone on the 63rd anniversary of Andy Warhol's birth.

Think of that when you hear the phrase “World Wide Web” or see "www" in a URL. Robert Cailliau designed the historic triple "w" logo as a representation of the World Wide Web. Something about it looks Warholesque, but that might be my bias talking...

Notes:
Never been to a Smell & Tell at the Ann Arbor District Library? Click here to find out what all the buzz is about. The program will celebrate it's seventh anniversary year in June. Events take place monthly (and will include offsite flavor events in 2019).

Andy Warhol and his family attended St. John Chrysostom Byzantine Catholic Church in his hometown of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Orthodox iconography is an art onto itself. Holy icons are known to exude myrrh, an ingredient in the formula for Youth Dew by Estée Lauder.

Drella is a nickname that was given to Andy Warhol by superstar Ondine. It's a mash-up of Dracula and Cinderella. Songs for Drella is an album by John Cale and Lou Reed dedicated to Andy Warhol.

The Philosophy of Andy Warhol: From A to B and Back Again, (1975), ghostwritten by Pat Hackett and Bob Colacello (editor at Interview Magazine). The contents of the book were drawn from taped conversations with Pat Hackett (who did a lot of this kind of collaborative work with Warhol) and conversations that Warhol taped between himself and Bob Colacello, and former Warhol superstar and artist Brigid Berlin. Chapter 10 on Atmospheres is where smell and perfume are discussed in detail. One can't help wondering what life would have been like for Andy Warhol had he lived long enough to discover fragrance blogs.

A quote worth remembering if inquiry is your thing:
“Stealing from one author is plagiarism; from many authors, research.” ― Walter Moers, The City of Dreaming Books

Image of vintage Youth Dew perfume via © Perfume Fetish on Etsy. I'm looking forward to a small bottle of vintage Halston that I ordered for the Drella Was a Smellaholic Smell & Tell. I missed out on the gorgeous vintage bottle of Youth Dew and will stare admiringly at the picture in an attempt to will into my life.

Sensory Training: Making Friends with Devil's Dung

Opening a container of asafoetida (Ferula asafoetida) will clear out a room. The ground gum oleoresin, which is used as a spice, has a nose wrinkling smell that resembles mercaptan, the rotten cabbage-like odorant used to scent natural gas. Mercaptan and asafoetida contain sulfur compounds associated with decomposition, so why would anyone want to make friends with a spice that's earned the nickname "Devil's Dung"?

Asafoetida is an alliaceous substitute for onions and garlic in Jain cooking. It's also used as an umami flavor enhancer in Indian cuisine and acts as an antiflatulent, which is ironic when one considers how asafoetida smells before it mellows during the cooking process. 

There are aesthetically pleasant things one can study when training their sense of smell, but asafoetida is one of the best because it's a catalyst for discovery when confronting sensory bias. Humans are hardwired to escape dangerous smells, but not all unpleasant smells are dangerous. The challenge in sensory evaluation, inclusive of taste and smell, is the fact that most of us would rather experience something we like and avoid anything we find unpleasant.

When you're going through sensory training you learn to let go of personal preferences and aversions. The goal isn't to become objective because sensory perception is subjective. You learn to become more evaluative in sensory training, which is to say that you assess something for its character—whether you like it or not.

Smelling tincture of asafoetida as it evaporates on a perfume blotter is a revelation. The hellish brimstone odor is transformed as sulfur compounds evaporate and sweet balsamic notes redolent of vanilla emerge in the drydown. The heavenly transformation is striking, counterintuitive and unforgettable. 

Making friends with Devil's Dung (asafoetida) is a catalyst for self-discovery and a great way to conquer sensory bias. It teaches us that something we find unappealing can become a gateway for beauty over time. That's something worth lingering over.

Notes:

Sulfur compounds aren't found in the non-volatile constituents of asafoetida—they're only present in the essential oil. Once the sulfur evaporates from the oil other constituents such as vanillin and ferulic acid in ester form (the later related to ferulaldehyde found in maple syrup) can be detected. Ferulic acid is also related to isoeugenol (found in clove and other plants) and vanillin (found in vanilla). You don't have to be a chemist to recognize the inter-relational quality in plant volatiles on a molecular level. You can smell it.

To make an asafoetida tincture for smelling combine 1.42 grams (1/4 teaspoon) of asafoetida with 4ml of ethanol (high proof vodka) in a 5ml amber glass vial. Keep the tincture in a cool dark place and allow to age for one month. Shake the tincture daily during maceration.

Asafoetida resin sold in spice shops is ground into a powder with gum arabic and neutral materials such as wheat or rice flour. Turmeric is sometimes added to boost health benefits of asafoetida.

I'll be sharing tincture of asafoetida at The Storytelling Secrets of Optimus Yarnspinner, a Smell & Tell program that takes place tonight at the Ann Arbor District Library (downtown branch), from 6:30-8:45pm. This unique Smell & Tell focuses on an apothecary cabinet of inspirational smells that belongs to Optimus Yarnspinner, a beloved character in the Zamonia series of books by German author Walter Moers.

Spoiler Alert: Yarnspinner uses asafoetida when he's writing horror stories. The German word for asafoetida is stinkasant. Right up there with Devil's Dung.

Brian Eno, Maurice Roucel and the Perfume of Unfinished Business

Brian Eno and perfumer Maurice Roucel collaborated on a fragrance project in the late eighties that never came to fruition. Sounds like the perfume of unfinished business, but decades later, no one is talking about it. That's a shame because an existing fragrance opportunity that intersects with music and technology is right under their nose—and the fragrance industry's.

An interesting fact surfaced in the Spring 2015 edition of Noble Rot magazine. Brian Eno (musician, composer, producer and all around polymath) revealed that he collaborated with Quest perfumer Maurice Roucel on a "sex" perfume back in the day. That was just for fun.

Eno refers to Roucel as a friend, but what doesn't surface are details regarding how the two became acquainted (Roucel currently works for Symrise). Putting the pieces together makes the case for artistic collaboration in the present using technology that didn't exist when the two originally worked together—an app that incorporates music, color and fragrant inspiration.

Brian Eno

Brian Eno was immersed in learning about perfumery at Quest during Roucel's tenure there (Quest was acquired by Givaudan in 2007). The perfumer and the fragrance company aren't mentioned in Neroli's liner notes, but what took place in this time frame is.

The deduction is not squelchy. Neroli (1993) is an ambient album inspired by the essence of orange blossom and Eno's passion for collecting ingredients used in perfumery (a picture of his fragrance kit packed with vials accompanies liner notes in the 2014 reissue of the CD).

The CD liner notes contain an excerpt from a radio interview Eno did with WNYC's John Schaefer, the host of New Sounds. They reveal that Eno was working on a commercial perfume project with a large fragrance company, and that he made monthly trips to the company's office in Paris to gather experience and knowledge. The timeframe is the late eighties.

It would make sense for Eno to withhold the name of the company he was working with in a taped radio interview. The fragrance industry is notoriously secretive. A non-disclosure agreement may have been signed, but if it was have the terms of the NDA expired? Does it matter where the project picks up if Roucel is now at Symrise? Is Eno interested in revisiting something he abandoned in a new timeframe with new tools? These questions and more are worthy of consideration.

Maurice Roucel via Editions de Parfums Frederic Malle

Roucel was working for Quest in 1989 and though he isn't mentioned in Neroli's liner notes, his participation can be deduced if one reads “An Evening with Brian Eno” in The Complete Music Magazine (1982), “Scents and Sensibility” in Details magazine (July 1992) and “Ode to Perfume” in Noble Rot (2015).

Eno's fragrance industry references are always Quest and Roucel, but the liner notes for Neroli, which are dated September 18, 1989, require further exploration. Content from the New Sounds interview doesn't match Neroli's liner notes verbatim and a deeper "industry" reveal is in the liner notes. So why the blip?

Shadow of Neroli by Michelle Krell Kydd

Eno's interview with New Sounds was broadcast on October 18, 1989 under the title #375: Ambient Music with Brian Eno. The content of Neroli's liner notes isn't the "edited" broadcast that aired on New Sounds. It would be interesting to hear the uncut version, but the past is gone and it's 2018—time for Eno and Roucel to combine their métiers and visit uncharted territory.

The Bloom app created by Brian Eno and Peter Chilvers is a natural starting point. Bloom's haptic interface plays a sound every time a finger taps the touchscreen. Each tap generates a colored sphere and corresponding sound. Successive tapping creates multiple sounds and colors that are playfully synesthetic. The background color is set by the user as a "mood". Each mood on the Bloom app is named after an ingredient used in perfumery—there are 12 of them.

Screenshot of Bloom App on an iPad

Bloom's 12 fragrant "mood" settings are: Neroli, Vetiver, Ylang, Labdanum, Bergamot, Orris, Ambrette, Benzoin, Tolu, Cedar, Civet and Skatole. There are no smells in reality or virtual reality, though one could easily hack that with a collection of diluted aroma materials from suppliers like Eden Botanicals, Enfleurage NYC, Perfumer's Apprentice and White Lotus Aromatics.

Two product lines are immediately possible. The first is a collection of finished fragrances based on Bloom's mood settings. That's 12 perfumes Maurice Roucel can make and everyone knows he brings sexy back like it never left the room.

The second opportunity is a coffret containing each of the "mood" materials in dilution. This would encourage the development of a personal lexicon for smells, and indulging in scent layering to create perfume accords on skin.

The coffret addresses Eno's observation of fragrance as an "unlangued" sense. It's an opportunity to move through subjectivity into objectivity via learning to evaluate raw materials used in perfumery. Et voila. Glass Petal Smoke has just provided a fragrance brief for Brian Eno and Maurice Roucel.

One is reminded of writer Italo Calvino's words when considering the possibility that Eno and Roucel—two highly respected artists that are well versed in distinct disciplines—will never collaborate again:

…the phials, the ampoules, the jars with their spire-like or cut glass stoppers will weave in vain from shelf to shelf their network of harmonies, assonances, dissonances, counterpoints, modulations, cadenzas: our deaf nostrils will no longer catch the notes of their scale.
        —“The Name, The Nose” from Under the Jaguar Sun, by Italo Calvino

Let's hope perfumer Maurice Roucel (a 2012 Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres recipient) and polymath Brian Eno pick up where they left off, and don't leave us with dead air.

Notes:
Thanks to WNYC Associate Producer Caryn Havlik for assisting Glass Petal Smoke in locating #375: Ambient Music with Brian Eno on the New Sounds website when the date cited in Neroli's liner notes didn't correspond with the date of the broadcast.

The liner notes referenced in this article are from the 2014 reissue of Neroli on CD at All Saints Records. It is currently sold out.

A perfume accord is the basic character of a fragrance consisting of three or four blended notes that create a new aromatic impression. It's like using a mirepoix in cooking; the sum in flavor is different than the individual ingredients that comprise it.

A generative audio-visual installation utilizing Bloom made news last February, but smells weren't included in the communal mixed reality experience shaped by Bloom and Microsoft HoloLens.

"Brian Eno Smells" took place on February 21, 2018 at the Ann Arbor District Library, in Ann Arbor, Michigan. I introduced the Bloom app at the Smell & Tell and 40 people smelled Musk Ambrette while the Bloom app operated in Ambrette mode. The purpose was to encourage personal olfactory lexicon via intersensing, a form of multisensory learning. You can read about the Smell & Tell event here. Special thanks to Christopher Porter who covered the event as a journalist and participant. Porter rocked a stylish coif a là David Bowie on the cover of Low, one of three albums in the Bowie "Berlin Trilogy" that Brian Eno worked on.

The Evolution of Eau de Cologne

The language of fragrance, like flavor, is subject to interpretation based on culture and personal preference. When ingredients used in perfumery double as flavors found in food or drink, a quality of receptivity emerges. Attachments to likes and dislikes fade as a quality of openness emerges. The composition of Eau de Cologne illustrates this best as does the story of its creation. It's evolution in the Atelier Cologne line of fragrances marries modern perfumery to its roots, evoking a quality of reverential beauty one rarely sees in fragrance creation today.

Italian perfumer Giovanni Maria Farina was only 23 years old when he created Eau de Cologne in 1709. The fragrance revolved around a citrus bouquet that included lemon, orange, tangerine, bergamot, lime, grapefruit and neroli that was unique for its time. Lavender, rosemary, thyme, petitgrain (derived from orange leaf) and jasmine supported the citrus signature, but there was an element contained therein which could not be measured; Farina was homesick for Italy and his longing infused Eau de Cologne with memories of his roots.
 

In a letter to his brother, Jean Baptiste, he writes, "I have created a perfume which is reminiscent of an [Italian] spring morning following a soft shower where fragrances of wild narcissi combine with that of sweet orange flowers. This perfume refreshes me and stimulates both my senses and imagination..." The young fragrance maker, who learned the art of perfumery from his grandmother, was living in Cologne, Germany and worked for his uncle, who owned a luxury goods business. Giovanni Maria Farina accomplished two feats when he created Eau de Cologne; he reconciled his loneliness for the familiar scents of his birthplace while honoring his adopted hometown with a namesake fragrance. Farina made quite a career for himself and his customers included an impressive list of aristocrats as well as literati.

Europeans were attracted to the quality of lightness in Eau de Cologne which contrasted starkly with animalic ingredients like musk, civet, and ambergris which normally besieged their nostrils, (the heady materials were often mixed with spices to create a concentrated perfume). Eau de Cologne's application included use as a restorative by one Mrs. Duplessis from Nogent. Farina advised her to use Eau de Cologne on her husband's paralyzed limbs and prescribed a weekly tonic consisting of 50 drops of Eau de Cologne diluted in a glass of water. Today one would be ill advised to follow this folkloric prescription as modern perfumes are not edible.

In contemporary perfumery the term "cologne" refers to a finished fragrance with a low ratio of essential oils to alcohol. This range can vary anywhere from 2% to 8% and reflects Giovanni Maria Farina's Eau de Cologne formula. Citrus ingredients used in perfumery evaporate quickly due to their volatile nature. This is why one finds them dosed as top notes in perfumery; they make the first olfactory impression and provide a refreshing sensation that usually gives way to more complex synergistic ingredients.

Atelier Cologne founders Christopher Cervasel and Sylvie Ganter were in love with the history of Eau de Cologne and wanted to amplify its citrus bouquet while preserving its revitalizing quality. Advances in the art of perfumery combined with dosing of raw materials in the 12-20% range allowed them to actualize their olfactory dream and create a new category of fragrances called Colognes Absolues. Each fragrance in the Atelier Cologne collection is buoyed by the refreshing citrus quality of Eau de Cologne and possesses long-lasting sillage. There are six fragrances available, each with its own distinctive twist. The current anthology of scents includes: Orange Sanguine, Grand Néroli, Bois Blonds, Trèfle Pur, Oolang Infini and Vanille Insensée. A new addition to Atelier Cologne's offerings is in the works and will be released in the beginning of 2012.

Today the idea of an Eau de Cologne tonic is not impossible to achieve. One can look to modern bitters for  inspiration as many are citrus inspired and approved for imbibing. Bitters may be combined with carbonated water, simple syrup, flower waters, muddled herbs and a variety of alcoholic beverages to produce tempting tipples. Brands such as Angostura Bitters, Fee Brothers, and A.B. Smeby Bittering Company are a good place to start. Several A.B. Smeby formulas incorporate floral essences with enchanting descriptions that speak to the gustatory spirit of perfume. If Giovanni Maria Farina were alive today he would undoubtedly add "molecular mixologist" to his résumé; all of his influences live in the bitters world.

Notes:

While editing this piece I discovered a formula for Eau de Cologne that belonged to my husband's grandmother, Jeanne Purdy. Grandma Purdy worked as a nurse and used the medical abbreviation "gtts" for measuring drops of essential oil to alcohol, (15 to 16 drops = 1cc = 1ml). The formula was hidden inside the top of one of her recipe boxes.

Giovanni Maria Farina was influenced by the history of perfumery when he created Eau de Cologne. Marie Anne de La Trémoille (Orsini), duchess of Bracciano and Princess of Nerola in 17th century Italy,  introduced the use of essence of Bitter Orange Flower (Neroli) as a perfume to be worn on skin. Farina embraced this ingredient in his Eau de Cologne formula which likely added to its acceptance.

The source for Giovanni Maria Farina's quote comes from: Markus Eckstein, Eau de Cologne, J.P. Bachem Verlag 2006, Cologne. 

William Dorman's "Perfumes-II" article in Volume 6 of Good Housekeeping is charming and worth a read. The feature, which appeared in 1888, focuses on citrus-based perfumes and can be found on pages 190 thru 191. "Perfumes and Perfumery: Cologne," the first part of this series, includes a formula that approximates Farina's Eau de Cologne on page 169.

The photograph of the fragrance ampoule containing Farina's Eau de Cologne and portrait of Giovanni Maria Farina (also referred to in the French style as Jean Marie Farina) is licensed under Creative Commons.

The picture of Atelier Cologne founders Christopher Cervasel and Sylvie Ganter is from the Atelier Cologne website. Rights revert back to the owners.

The photo of Jeanne Purdy's formula for Eau de Cologne taken by Michelle Krell Kydd. All rights reserved.

The Aromatic Allure of Tahitian Vanilla

Tahitian vanilla's unique floral aroma has made it a favorite choice among chefs who use it to flavor pastry cream, crème brûlée and ice cream. It's taste differs in subtle ways from the more commonly used Bourbon vanilla. Tahitian vanilla (Vanilla tahitensis) is floral and fruity, its plump cured pods exuding notes of cherry, raisin, musk, lactones and anisic aldehydes. In contrast, Bourbon vanilla beans (Vanilla planifolia) exude sweet, woody tobacco notes. You can bring the beauty of vanilla beans into your kitchen by making an infusion in vodka. The infusion process, which is used to create tinctures and elixirs, is also known as maceration.

Tahitian vanilla may contain less vanillin than the Bourbon variety, but it possesses heliotropin, a distinguished molecule that has garnered attention in the medical community. In 1991 Drs. William Redd and Sharon Manne, researchers at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, conducted tests utilizing the diffused molecule and found that the odor of heliotropin reduced anxiety in cancer patients receiving magnetic resonance imaging scans. Folklore has always promoted the aphrodisiac and stomachic properties of vanilla, but it seems that science has made vanilla's benefits more tangible.

Regional crop size, limited harvests and the requisite hand-pollination of blossoms make Tahitian vanilla expensive and difficult to procure. Inferior beans and imposters exist, but The Spice House in Chicago has managed to develop relationships with distributors of genuine Tahitian vanilla beans. Their Tahitian Vanilla Beans are rich, plump and highly flavorful. You can purchase the extract, but making Tahitian vanilla infusion is an indulgent pleasure that every sensualist should experience. Don’t let the cost of bona fide beans and premium vodka stop you; experiencing something authentic and precious is a worthwhile luxury.

Tahitian Vanilla Infusion
Recipe by Michelle Krell Kydd

Ingredients:
6 Tahitian Gold Vanilla Beans
1 375ml bottle of vodka

Instructions:
· Using the tip of a sharp knife, gently run the blade along the length of a vanilla bean to expose the seeds, making sure the bean stays intact and is not cut in half. Place the bean inside the bottle of vodka and repeat with the other five beans.

· Seal the vodka bottle and gently shake five to ten times. Store the infusion in a cool, dark place.

· Shake the contents twice a week for the first two weeks and macerate for an additional ten weeks, undisturbed. The Belvedere vodka bottle is imprinted with a bare white tree. When the Tahitian vanilla is properly macerated there will be a strong contrast between the color of the tree and the dark amber color of the infusion. The black lettering on the bottle should be barely visible at the 12th week of maceration.

Notes:
Maceration does not duplicate the making of an extract. What is being created is a flavored tincture. The use of several split beans macerating over a three-month period will produce an intensely flavored infusion. Use twice the vanilla recommended in a recipe when baking or cooking with a mature infusion.

Belvedere Vodka (derived from rye) is a neutral spirit that possesses nuances of vanilla in the nose and body. Bourbon isn't recommended for macerating Tahitian Vanilla because it adds a quality of woodiness that detracts from the bean’s fruity floral flavors. Bourbon whisky is appropriate for macerating Bourbon vanilla beans, which possess darker flavor tones.

Want to learn more about vanilla? Vanilla: Travels in Search of the Ice Cream Orchid by Tim Ecott and Vanilla: The Cultural History of the World's Favorite Flavor and Fragrance by Patricia Rain are great places to start.

Photo of Ecstasy Singing by Krista Lynn Brown can be viewed on Devaluna. An inspired collection of beautiful paintings by the artist are for sale on the site.

Osmanthus: Flavor & Fragrance of the East

Osmanthus, an intensely rich and beautiful raw material, straddles the line between strange and familiar with its fruity, animalic character. How does one find solace in the apparent contradiction, let alone a daring heart? Perfume aficionados and professionals have always known that acceptance of a novel odor requires more than an open mind; it requires a willingness to risk aversion in order to experience pleasure.

Osmanthus fragrans is one of ten flowers held in high esteem by the Chinese, (wintersweet, peony, and chrysanthemum, orchid, rose, azalea, camellia, lotus and narcissus complete the list). Used to flavor semi-fermented green teas, Osmanthus’ apricot intensity sits above the verdancy of tender tea leaves and possesses the grace of a calligraphic flourish. Dried osmanthus flowers have a lush, jammy intensity that is slightly astringent, albeit less so than the fragrance absolute, which brazenly dallies with leatheric facets. Ironically, Steffen Arctander, esteemed author of Perfume and Flavor Materials of Natural Origin, had no experience using Osmanthus in perfumery when his book was published in 1961. This may have been due to the fact that trade with China in the 1960’s was not as prevalent as it is now.

In the United States, Osmanthus grows in the southeastern states, where it is often referred to as tea olive or sweet olive. Hové, a boutique perfumery in New Orleans, has been selling its Tea Olive fragrance for decades. I was introduced to the fragrance by a local antique store owner named Joan Good, a New Orleans icon who is famous for her garnet and cameo offerings. Once inside the perfumery, she led me to a slender bottle with an amber-hued liquid inside. The white spray nozzle was slightly sticky with a thick, brown resin, something you would see on a vintage bottle of perfume sitting on a vanity tray (I later learned that this is due to the high percentage of raw material that is used in creating the fragrance).

In a captivating drawl, the former poker mate of playwright Tennessee Williams said, “Tea Olive is quite beautiful to those of us that grew up in the south and the ladies here are quite fond of it, but its charm can be an acquired taste for some.” It didn’t take long for me to get past the “acquired” phase when I smelled Tea Olive. My childhood memories are colored by days spent at my father’s leather shop (which now houses offices at the Fashion Institute of Technology) and the taste of apricot fruit leather my mother and I procured weekly at Krum’s, in the Bronx (a candy landmark on the historic Grand Concourse).

The rich, fruity quality of Hové’s Tea Olive grows mouthwateringly ripe alongside an animalic aspect which merges with the wearer’s skin. The effect is more linear than what is found in traditionally constructed fragrances, but maintains the allure of a full bouquet. If you are one who delights in the melding of the olfactive and the gustatory, you can indulge in fragrance and flower. Culinary osmanthus is more easily procured due to increased trade with China and TeaSpring.com ships superior osmanthus at an affordable price. The tisane arrives at your door directly from China, complete with smiling Mao postage stamps on the parcel. You can add it to your favorite green tea (Taiwan oolong is best), infuse heavy cream for the making of truffles, or add it to vodka and macerate for up to four weeks to make an extract. The only limit is your imagination.

Notes:

Dried osmanthus flowers are available at Tea Spring.

Recipe for Glass Petal Smoke's Osmanthus Tea Cake can be found here.

Tea Olive perfume can be purchased at Hové.

Cameos and garnet jewelry are a specialty at Joan Good Antiques. (Joan Good passed away on April 6, 2017, the website for her store is no longer active.)

Arctander, Steffan. Perfume and Flavor Materials of Natural Origin. Carol Stream, Illinois. Allured Publishing, 1961.