Gardenia absolute

Thick white flower, cream, a faint mushroom note. Green leaf, ripe fruit and a touch of coconut milk. Sweet with a green bitterness.

Gardenia absolute has no dedicated standard in the 51st Amendment of the IFRA Standards and is not named in the EU fragrance allergen list.

Linalool and benzyl alcohol, where present, are on the EU allergen list and must be labelled above 0.001 percent in leave-on or 0.01 percent in rinse-off products.

Most products sold as gardenia are reconstructions. The nature of each lot should be confirmed with the supplier. Store dark, sealed and cool.

Gardenia jasminoides is an evergreen shrub native to southern China, Vietnam and nearby regions. In Vietnam it is called dành dành. The white, thick-petalled flowers open from late spring to early summer and turn yellow as they fade. The fruit is used as a yellow food colouring in Asia.

Gardenia flowers give a low yield and bruise easily in processing. Genuine absolute has been made in very small quantities, and most gardenias in perfume history are reconstructions from synthetics and other oils.

Headspace studies of the living flower report linalool, tiglate esters such as (Z)-3-hexenyl tiglate, methyl benzoate and lactones. The mushroom and coconut milk nuances in reconstructions are linked to trace materials such as lactones and 1-octen-3-ol.

In perfumery, gardenia is a white floral theme of its own, between jasmine, tuberose and orange flower. Reconstructions typically use benzyl acetate, milky lactones, green esters and a mushroom nuance.

The related Gardenia taitensis is the source of monoi and tiare absolute, which has its own page. This page records gardenia absolute as a rare material whose source should be verified.