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VERIFIED CLAIM · CORRECTED

Black pepper has a complex volatile profile

Essential oils of black pepper fruits from Madagascar and Brazil were dominated by α-pinene, sabinene, β-pinene, δ-3-carene, limonene and β-caryophyllene, and their relative amounts grouped by origin.

Scope

Composition of hydrodistilled essential oils, not the odour potency of each compound; origin and processing change the profile.

Correction

The claim said numerous compounds contribute to black pepper's characteristic aroma. Its source reports the major components of black pepper essential oils, not their contribution to the aroma, so the claim now names those components and their variation by origin.

Correction notice published 2 October 2026.

How this was found

Chemical composition. Compounds were identified or measured, without any assessment of their odour.

Source: review of earlier studies; chemistry work.

This describes how the evidence behind this claim was produced: for a review, by the studies it summarises. What the claim itself covers is its scope, above; how SmellBook checked the claim, where it could, is the next section.

How this claim was checked

SmellBook checked this claim against the source's own words, so that the claim says no more than the source supports. This does not repeat or re-test the study itself.

An editor read the abstract, found the claim said more than it supports, and narrowed the claim; the correction notice records what changed. Abstract from Europe PMC (ebi.ac.uk/europepmc).

Smell entries this claim is about

1
Black PepperSB-0158↗

Molecules named by this claim

6

Major component: The study found a lot of it. A large amount does not by itself mean it shapes the smell.

The claim says “dominated by α-pinene, sabinene, β-pinene, δ-3-carene, limonene and β-caryophyllene”

Each molecule named here has only the role the claim states. Each molecule page shows the other entries whose evidence names it.

Sources

1

Claim record

Status
Corrected (a correction notice is published)
Reviewed
2 October 2026
Corrections
One, shown above
Claim code
CLM-PEPPER-001

Permanent identifier smellbook:claim:black-pepper-volatile-complexity · This record and its links as data (JSON)

Dataset history In the SmellBook dataset since the first of three dataset releases of 2026-09-30; changed in the first of two dataset releases of 2026-10-02 (description, scope).