Quandong Desert Peach
Note Profile
About
Quandong is the fruit of Santalum acuminatum, a small tree of arid Australia, also sold as desert peach or native peach. It smells of dried peach with a citrus edge, sweet and a little sour. Both sources that describe the smell reach for peach, and one adds apricot and a light woodiness. Neither uses the words creamy, juicy or lactonic, so this is the dried fruit rather than a ripe stone fruit off the tree.
Scent Profile
Fruity leads and both sources open there: 'The aroma resembles dried peach with citrus notes' and 'a fresh, fruity aroma with subtle hints of peach and apricot'. Sour is next, from 'slightly sweet and a little sour, especially in unripe fruits', and it is the facet that separates quandong from the published peach. Citrus is stated directly by one source ('with citrus notes') and is what makes the fruit read bright rather than heavy. Dry_woody is 'delicate woody undertones' from the second source, and the word delicate is why it stops at 0.25 rather than going higher. Sweet_vanillic is the 'slightly sweet', held low because both sources qualify the sweetness. Below, tobacco_hay is the dried quality in 'dried peach', which is an inference from the word dried rather than a claim anyone made. Nutty is a small allowance for the kernel, not stated by any source. Lactonic is near zero on a stated absence: both descriptions were checked for creaminess and neither has it, so quandong does not inherit peach's lactonic by resemblance. Green is the unripe fruit.
ScentWheel
Read off the wheel, not a label applied to the note.
Origin
Santalum acuminatum, a hemiparasitic tree of the Australian desert, in the same genus as the sandalwoods. The genus is a trap. Wikipedia states that the timber 'lacks the aromatic qualities of other sandalwoods', so this note must not borrow any sandalwood character on the strength of the name. The referent here is the fruit, a red drupe with a thin sour flesh over a large kernel, harvested and usually dried. The flowers are recorded as fragrant but no source says what they smell of.
Usage in Perfumery
A dried-fruit accent, tart rather than syrupy, used where a peach would be too creamy. Attested 3 times on Fragrantica and not at all on Parfumo. Fragrantica files it under Fruits, vegetables and nuts. No commercial quandong fragrance material was found, so any use is a built accord.
Similar Notes
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