Hazelnut
Creamy toasted nuts with a sweet, slightly cocoa-like warmth.
You may know it from hazelnut chocolate spread
Where it comes from
Made from hazelnut extracts and oils, or recreated with aroma chemicals.
About hazelnut
The word hazelnut covers any nut from species of the genus Corylus, above all the nuts of the common hazel, Corylus avellana. The tree is a shrub of the birch family, native to Europe and western Asia. Its nut is round, and the filbert nut is the longer one, though the two names often get used for the same thing.
Harvest comes once a year, in mid-autumn. In 2023 Turkey was the world's largest producer, with 57.7% of total production. The kernel is eaten raw, roasted or ground into a paste, and the nuts make up between 33.2% and 49.5% of the fruit, depending on the cultivar. Hazelnut oil is pressed from them and is strongly flavoured, as well as high in monounsaturated fat.
One molecule stands behind most of that flavour. Filbertone, (E)-5-methyl-2-hepten-4-one, is the principal flavour compound of hazelnuts, and it is used in perfumery. The mixed form is described as hazelnut and nutty. Its two mirror-image forms differ from each other, one metallic and fatty, the other softer, buttery and chocolate-like.
Chocolate is the pairing most people know. Nutella was originally marketed as Pasta Gianduja, and gianduja is softer because of its hazelnut oil, which stays liquid at room temperature. Perfume writing places the nut in other company too. The critic behind Bois de Jasmin lists hazelnuts among the hints in the scent of roasted coffee, next to blackcurrants and chocolate.
Accords it shows up in
How many of the fragrances listing Hazelnut in our catalogue also carry each accord. We counted this ourselves.
Often paired with
The notes that appear next to Hazelnut most often in our catalogue.
Well-known fragrances with Hazelnut
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 Hazelnut.