Chili Leaf

Note Profile

Botanical

About

Chili leaf is the leaf of the chili plant, Capsicum annuum and its relatives. It smells green, grassy and herby, close to crushed foliage or raw spinach. A mild peppery lift sits behind the green, much softer than the fruit. The leaf carries no heat, because capsaicin has no smell.

Scent Profile

Green leads, and it is the only thing every source agrees on. Two independent cooking sources say it twice over: 'that distinct green grassy herby aroma' and 'releasing the green, grassy aroma'. A third says 'it tastes like spinach'. The plant-science source backs the chemistry: 'C6 and C9 aldehydes are the main sources of green aroma'. Aromatic_herbal is the 'herby' half of the first quote and the 'delicate and fragrant' of the third, and it is the facet that separates this from a plain grass note. Below sit fresh_spice for 'a milder pepper flavour than the peppers themselves, and taste a little like white pepper', aldehydic for the sharp edge of the C6 aldehydes, mineral for the metallic side of the spinach comparison, and earthy for the soil under a low crop leaf.

ScentWheel

Breadthmedium

EnvelopeTop · ~2h lasting

Family Green & Aromatic

Read off the wheel, not a label applied to the note.

Origin

Capsicum is a genus of the nightshade family, native to the Americas and now grown across the tropics. The leaf is a food crop in its own right in Southeast Asia. It is best documented in Filipino cooking, where it goes into chicken tinola under the Tagalog name dahon ng sili, and it is also used in Indonesian and Thai dishes. There is no chili leaf essential oil, absolute or reconstruction on the market. Plant science attributes the green vegetable odour of Capsicum tissue to C6 and C9 aldehydes such as hexanal and trans-2-hexenal, the same green leaf volatiles behind cut grass.

Usage in Perfumery

Chili leaf is a green top note. It is used where a composition needs raw leaf and stem with a faint peppery edge, rather than the fruit's fruity-red character. It works against other green materials, citrus and light aquatics, and it is a way to reference chili without the sweet red fruit that published chili is scored for.