Fenugreek CO2 extract

Caramelised sugar, maple syrup, dry curry, hay, a touch of roasted seed. Very diluted it shows caramel and lovage; concentrated it is thick, fatty and slightly bean-like.

Fenugreek has no dedicated standard in the IFRA 51 index. Sotolon, the key odorant, has no IFRA standard of its own and is not named in the allergen list of EU Regulation 2023/1545.

The total extract is rich in fatty oil and can turn rancid over time. Sotolon is very potent and clings to skin, fabric and equipment. Store dark, sealed and cool.

Fenugreek is an annual legume. Its small, hard, yellow-brown seeds season food in India, the Middle East and North Africa. India is the largest producer, mainly in Rajasthan, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh. In India fenugreek is a rabi crop: sown late in the year and harvested early the next. Morocco, Egypt and Ethiopia also grow it.

The typical seed odour comes from sotolon, a lactone with an extremely low odour threshold. Very diluted it recalls maple syrup and caramelised sugar; stronger it recalls curry. The same compound occurs in Jura vin jaune, sherry and lovage.

A total CO2 extract takes the odour fraction together with the seed's fatty oil. Fenugreek fatty oil is rich in linoleic acid, with linolenic and oleic acids. A German CO2 producer lists an organic grade. Fenugreek absolute, made with organic solvent, is a different form with its own page in the library.

In flavours fenugreek extract builds maple and caramel notes. In perfumery it is used at trace level in tobacco, hay, gourmand and burnt-sugar amber accords. High doses make it heavy and spice-like.

Quality depends on seed freshness; seeds lightly roasted before extraction give a clearer roasted note.