Amalfi Lemon
Bright, tart lemon peel and freshly squeezed juice, with a sunny, slightly sweet zestiness.
You may know it from Freshly grated lemon zest
Where it comes from
Cold-pressed lemon peel oil is often supported by synthetic citrus materials.
Worth knowing
It usually means a lemon style, not necessarily fruit grown on Italy's Amalfi Coast.
About amalfi lemon
The fruit behind the name is the Sfusato Amalfitano, a lemon of the Amalfi ecotype grown on Italy's Amalfi Coast. It is a cultivar and not a separate species, so it sits inside the same species as every other lemon. The way it is grown is what gives it a name of its own. The trees stand on terraces held up by retaining walls called macere, and they grow under pergolas covered with thin nets.
The fruit carries a European protected geographical indication under the name Limone Costa d'Amalfi, which Cooks Info dates to 4 July 2001. The PGI specification allows picking from 1 February to 31 October. Cooks Info gives the season as February to September, so sources differ on where it ends.
Most of the crop never reaches a perfumer. According to Cooks Info, about 60% of the Sfusato harvest is used locally to make limoncello, and the lemon is tied to that liqueur as much as to anything in a bottle of scent.
The oil used in perfumery comes from the peel, which is cold-pressed. One supplier page puts the yield at roughly 1,200 lemons for 1 kg of essential oil. A perfumery glossary names Sicily, the Amalfi Coast, Spain and Argentina among the places that supply cold-pressed lemon oil. A note guide describes the Amalfi version as a vibrant, tangy scent with a slightly sweet undertone.
Accords it shows up in
How many of the fragrances listing Amalfi Lemon in our catalogue also carry each accord. We counted this ourselves.
Often paired with
The notes that appear next to Amalfi Lemon most often in our catalogue.
Well-known fragrances with Amalfi Lemon
Fragrances that list it in their notes, most-rated first.
Houses that use it most
Ranked by how many of their well-known fragrances list Amalfi Lemon.