FRUITS, VEGETABLES AND NUTS / fruity · sweet · fresh
White Mulberry
Category
FRUITS, VEGETABLES AND NUTS
Subcategory
fruity · sweet · fresh
Origin
Volatility
Heart Note
Botanical
Morus alba
Appearance
N/A (fantasy note — no commercial extract exists)
Odor Strength
Medium
Producing Countries
China, India
Pyramid
Heart
Pale, honeyed sweetness — a reconstructed berry accord evoking white mulberry (Morus alba) or its darker, tarter cousin Morus nigra. No commercial extract exists.
White mulberry opens soft and honey-sweet — the gentler of the two cultural mulberries, less tart than black, with a translucent juicy quality that lacks the wine-dark depth of Morus nigra. The reconstruction sits between blackberry and grape, sweeter and more honeyed than either. On skin it fades within the first hour, leaving a faint sweet-fruity memory.
Evolution over time
Immediately
Immediately
sweet, fruity aroma reminiscent of ripe berries
After a few hours
After a few hours
develops subtle floral and green nuances
After a few days
After a few days
maintains a delightful fruity essence
The Full Story
Mulberry has two principal cultural species: white mulberry (Morus alba), the silkworm tree of East Asian agriculture, and black mulberry (Morus nigra), the more aromatic culinary species of the Mediterranean and Middle East. Both belong to the Moraceae family. The fruit — botanically a multiple fruit, like the fig — is pale and gently sweet in M. alba; deep purple-black, sharper and more tannic, in M. nigra.
In perfumery
There is no commercial mulberry extract. The fruit is too perishable and its aroma too water-soluble for industrial extraction. The 'mulberry' note in fragrance is always a reconstruction, built around damascenone (CAS 23696-85-7) [A], raspberry ketone, ethyl maltol and a small ester palette. The reconstruction sits between blackberry and grape, sweeter and more honeyed than either.
Mulberry is the silkworm's only food. Bombyx mori — the silk moth — eats nothing but the leaves of Morus alba (white mulberry); its entire 5,000-year domestication is bound to that single botanical relationship. Chinese silk production is, in a literal sense, mulberry leaves passed through a caterpillar. The fruit is incidental — a byproduct of an industrial relationship between two species.
Extraction & Chemistry
Extraction method: Not applicable. No commercial mulberry essential oil, absolute or CO₂ extract exists. The fruit's volatile profile is dominated by water-soluble esters that do not survive extraction at scale. The mulberry note in perfumery is always a reconstruction.
Molecular Formula
N/A — no standard isolate
CAS Number
N/A — no commercial essential oil
Botanical Name
Morus alba
IFRA Status
No known restrictions
Synonyms
MORUS ALBA · WHITE MULBERRY FRUIT
Physical Properties
Odor Strength
Medium
Appearance
N/A (fantasy note — no commercial extract exists)
In Perfumery
Mulberry in perfumery is a reconstructed accord, used sparingly as a fruity heart-note modifier. It sits between blackberry and grape, sweeter and more honeyed than either, less tart than raspberry. Often built around damascenone, ethyl maltol, raspberry ketone, and a small ester palette. Not used in any current Première Peau composition.
