FRUITS, VEGETABLES AND NUTS / green · fruity · woody
Fig
Category
FRUITS, VEGETABLES AND NUTS
Subcategory
green · fruity · woody
Origin
Volatility
Heart Note
Botanical
Ficus carica L.
Appearance
Dark green to brown viscous liquid (fig leaf absolute)
Odor Strength
Medium
Producing Countries
France (Grasse), Turkey, Morocco (fig leaf absolute)
Pyramid
Heart
Green, milky, sun-warmed. Fig smells like snapping a branch from the tree — white latex beading on the break, coconut-sweet flesh underneath, and the dry, papery rasp of bark in the background.
The green quality arrives first: waxy, slightly caustic, like the white latex that appears when a fig leaf is torn from its branch. A raw, vegetal milkiness — not floral, not herbal, but specifically sap. Then the fru it surfaces: sweet, creamy, with a coconut-lactonic warmth that comes from gamm a-octalactone. Underneath, a dry, bark-like woodiness and faint coumarinic sweetness.
Compared to coconut — which shares the lactonic quality — fig is greener, more vegetal, with a distinct sappy bite. Compared to linden blossom, which also blends green and sweet, fig is fruitier and less honeyed. Compared to almond, fig is less marzipan and more latex. The note reads immediately as itself, never as generic fruit.
Evolution over time
Immediately
Immediately
A green, waxy, sap-like burst — stemone delivering the raw, vegetal latex of a broken fig stem. Slightly caustic, milky, with high diffusion.
After a few hours
After a few hours
The green top softens as the lactonic heart emerges. Gamma-octalactone brings creamy, coconut-sweet fig flesh. Coumarin adds sun-baked warmth. The full fig tableau — leaf, fruit, bark — is now present.
After a few days
After a few days
A soft, sweet, slightly woody residue. The green-vegetal facets have evaporated; what remains is warm lactonic sweetness and a quiet bark-like dryness. Moderate tenacity overall.
Terroir & Post-Harvest Process
Indicative 2025 wholesale prices.
The Full Story
Fig in perfumery is a constructed note. There is no commercial fig essential oil. Fig leaf absolute (CAS 68916-52-9) was prohibited by IFRA in 2006 (Standard 142, Amendment 40) due to its psoralen content — bergapten and other linear furanocoumarins that cause severe phototoxic dermatit is on UV exposure. Every fig note in contemporary use is a synthetic accord.
The reconstruction anchors on two molecules. Stemone (CAS 22457-23-4), a C₈H₁₇NO oxime, delivers the waxy, vegetal, sap-like green of the fig leaf — the scent of white latex that beads when a stem is broken. It was introduced in 1967 and is used at 0.1–1% in finished concentrates. Gamma-octalactone (CAS 104-50-7), a C₈H₁₄O₂ lactone, provides the sweet, creamy, coconut-adjacent quality of ripe fig flesh. The two together at roughly a 1:3 ratio produce a convincing fig impression.
A full fig accord typically adds supporting materials: coumarin for sweet hay-like warmth, cis-3-hexenol (CAS 928-96-1) for crushed-leaf freshness, hedione (CAS 24851-98-7) for transparent radiance, and various green-leaf aldehydes. The goal is to reconstruct the complete sensory picture — leaf, sap, fruit, bark — from synthetic parts. No single molecule smells like fig; the note exists only as architecture.
The appeal of fig lies in its dual nature: simultaneously green and sweet, vegetal and gourmand, fresh and warm. A well-built fig accord encodes a specific geography and temperature — a Mediterranean garden in late July, dry shade, stone walls holding heat. The actual volatile profile of Ficus carica fruit is dominated by benzaldehyde, hexanal, and linalool (per GC-MS studies), but perfumers found that stemone and gamma-octalactone communicate 'fig' more effectively than faithful reproduction of the fruit's headspace.
This note in Première Peau. Gravitas Capitale · Nuit Elastique · Simili Mirage. Sample all seven extraits in the Discovery Set.
The actual volatile headspace of a ripe Ficus carica fruit is dominated by benzaldehyde (almond-like), hexanal (green-grassy), and linalool (floral-citrus) — none of which smell remotely like what we call 'fig' in perfumery. The perfumery fig note is a perceptual fiction: stemone and gamma-octalactone together trick the nose into recognising 'fig' more convincingly than the fruit's own molecules do.
Extraction & Chemistry
Extraction method: No commercial fig essential oil exists. Fig leaf absolute (CAS 68916-52-9) was prohibited by IFRA in 2006 (Standard 142, Amendment 40) due to phototoxic furanocoumar in content — psoralens, particularly bergapten, that cause severe dermatit is upon UV exposure. All fig notes in contemporary use are synthetic accords. The key constructi on molecule stemone (CAS 22457-23-4) is synthesized via the reacti on of 5-methyl-3-heptanone with hydroxylamine, producing an oxime with a characteristically green, fig-leaf profile. Gamm a-octalactone (CAS 104-50-7) is produced synthetically from octanoic acid cyclizati on. Some experimental CO2 extracts of fig tree components exist but are not standard perfumery materials and carry the same phototoxicity concerns.
Fig leaf absolute: prohibited (IFRA Standard 142, Amendment 40, 2006) due to phototoxic furanocoumarins. Synthetic fig molecules (stemone, gamma-octalactone): unrestricted.
Synonyms
FIGUE · FICUS · FIG LEAF · FIGUIER · FICO
Physical Properties
Odor Strength
Medium
Appearance
Dark green to brown viscous liquid (fig leaf absolute)
In Perfumery
Fig functions as a heart note in green-gourmand, Mediterranean, and fruity-green compositions. The note is always a synthetic accord, built primarily on stemone (CAS 22457-23-4, green-leafy-sap) and gamma-octalactone (CAS 104-50-7, creamy-coconut fruit). Stemone is unrestricted by IFRA and effective at 0.1–1% in concentrate. The fig accord bridges green and sweet: it makes greens warmer and sweets greener. Supporting construction materials include coumarin (warm hay-like sweetness), cis-3-hexenol (crushed-leaf freshness), hedione (transparent radiance), and various green-leaf aldehydes. Fig notes occupy soliflore structures, Mediterranean compositions alongside olive, cypress, and salt, and serve as unexpected modifiers in floral-woody frameworks. No current Première Peau fragrance features fig as a primary note.
