Cèpe absolute

Dried mushroom, forest soil, damp moss, a touch of roast meat and nuts. Warm, lightly savoury, evoking autumn leaf litter.

Cèpe absolute has no dedicated standard in the IFRA 51 index.

The mushrooms must be correctly identified since several toxic species look similar. The absolute is very strong and used at trace level. Store dark, sealed and cool.

Boletus edulis is an edible mushroom that lives in symbiosis with the roots of oak, chestnut and pine in Europe and North America. It is cèpe in French and porcino in Italian. It cannot be cultivated at scale, so supply comes from wild picking in late summer and autumn.

The characteristic mushroom odour comes from 1-octen-3-ol, often called mushroom alcohol. It forms when enzymes cleave linoleic acid in the tissue. As mushrooms dry, roasted and meaty notes increase.

An absolute is made in two steps. The raw material is extracted with a non-polar solvent such as hexane to give a waxy concrete. The concrete is then washed with ethanol, chilled to precipitate waxes, filtered and freed of alcohol. What remains is the absolute.

Cèpe absolute is a minor material made in small volumes. Its odour is very strong, so trace amounts suffice.

In perfumery cèpe absolute serves forest, chypre, earthy and leather accords. With patchouli, vetiver, oakmoss and orris it evokes leaf litter and damp soil.

Cèpe absolute is one of few fragrance materials made from fungi. Most mushroom notes in perfume come from synthetic 1-octen-3-ol.

Cèpe absolute is usually a dark brown paste. It should be evaluated well diluted since neat it is intensely mushroomy and meaty. At trace level it evokes damp soil and autumn woods. It is also used in food flavours for mushroom notes. In formulas it pairs well with oakmoss, patchouli and leather to build a dark, damp forest base.