Palm Sugar

Note Profile

Prepared 2 perfumes

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About

Dark, molasses-deep sugar with an earthy aroma that plain sugar does not have. Toffee and butterscotch sit under it, with a light smoky edge.

Scent Profile

Palm Sugar smells dark and deep, closer to molasses than to bright white sugar. An earthy aroma runs through it that plain sugar does not have, like damp brown earth rather than refined cane. A light smoky edge suggests sugar boiled hard over an open fire. Toffee and butterscotch sit underneath, a buttery richness rather than a coconut one.

ScentWheel

Breadthbroad

EnvelopeBase · ~12h lasting

Family Sweet & Gourmand, Woody & Earthy

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

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ScentArt

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Origin

Sap is tapped from the cut flower stalk of a palm, then boiled down and set into blocks or paste. The palm varies by region. Coconut palm, sugar palm (Arenga pinnata) and nipah are all used, and the finished sugar is sold under names such as gula jawa and gula melaka. The sap is not refined, so the minerals and the products of the long boil stay in the block. That is where the earthy and smoky character comes from.

Usage in Perfumery

A gourmand sweetener. It is used where plain sugar or caramel would read as too clean, because it brings a dark, slightly savoury depth with the sweetness. It sits with vanilla, coconut, rice, tonka and spice accords, and it reads Southeast Asian rather than patisserie.