SWEETS AND GOURMAND SMELLS / gourmand · caramel · strawberry
Furaneol
Category
SWEETS AND GOURMAND SMELLS
Subcategory
gourmand · caramel · strawberry
Origin
Volatility
Heart Note
Botanical
N/A — synthetic molecule (nature-identical; found in Fragaria × ananassa, Ananas comosus)
Appearance
White to pale yellow crystalline solid
Producing Countries
Manufactured globally (China, Europe, Japan)
Pyramid
Heart
Intensely sweet, caramelized-strawberry with a burnt-sugar warmth. Furaneol smells like strawberry jam cooking on a stove — fruity, caramelized, almost overwhelmingly sweet.
Overwhelmingly sweet at concentration — caramelized strawberry, burnt sugar, cotton candy. At dilution, a subtle fruity-caramel modifier. More fruity than maltol, more 'cooked' than ethyl maltol, distinctly strawberry-like. The caramel quality has a burnt edge — not clean sugar but caramelized, almost smoky sweetness.
Evolution over time
Immediately
Immediately
Intense caramelized-strawberry burst. Overwhelmingly sweet if concentrated.
After a few hours
After a few hours
Burnt-sugar caramel heart. Fruity character persists. Smoky-sweet warmth.
After a few days
After a few days
Lingering caramel sweetness. Persistent at trace levels. Slow fade.
The Full Story
CAS 3658-77-3. Also known as DMHF (2,5-dimethyl-4-hydroxy-3(2H)-furanone) or strawberry furanone. A naturally occurring molecule found in strawberries, pineapple, tomato, and roasted foods. Furaneol is a potent sweet-fruity aroma compounds known.
The scent is intensely sweet, with a particular caramelized-strawberry character. It combines fruity sweetness with a burnt-sugar, almost cotton-candy warmth. At high concentrations, it is overwhelmingly sweet; at trace levels, it provides a subtle fruity-caramel modifier. The molecule is a key contributor to the aroma of ripe strawberries — it is the reason strawberries smell 'cooked' even when raw.
In perfumery, furaneol is used in gourmand and fruity compositions at very low concentrations. Its extreme potency (detectable at parts-per-billion levels) means that even 0.01% in a formula can have a significant impact.
Furaneol has one of the lowest odor thresholds of any food-safe molecule — humans can detect it at concentrations of approximately 0.04 parts per billion in water. A single gram of pure furaneol contains enough scent molecules to be theoretically detectable in 25,000 tonnes of water.
Extraction & Chemistry
Extraction method: Found naturally in strawberries, pineapple, tomato, and malt. Produced synthetically by various routes including hydroxylation of furanone precursors. Natural isolation is not commercially practical due to low concentrations in source materials.
Molecular Formula
C6H8O3
CAS Number
3658-77-3
Botanical Name
N/A — synthetic molecule (nature-identical; found in Fragaria × ananassa, Ananas comosus)
Trace modifier in gourmand and fruity compositions. Furaneol is used at extremely low concentrations — typically 0.001-0.05% — to add a natural strawberry-caramel sweetness. It works in berry accords, praline compositions, and fruity-gourmand blends. The molecule is too potent for use at significant levels; at high concentrations it becomes cloyingly sweet. It is one of the 'secret weapons' in gourmand perfumery — barely detectable individually but decisive in combination.
