SMELLBOOK REFERENCE · SB-0020
Vanilla Bean
Permanent ID: smellbook: · updated 2026-10-06, revision 5
Character EDITORIAL
Vanilla bean smells soft, sweet and warm, with a creamy, slightly woody and almost boozy depth.
Words: sweet, warm, soft, creamy. Families: Temperature and texture, Sweet, fruity and floral.
Met in: Kitchen.
Evidence
Scientific evidence
- How curing forms vanilla aroma (CLM-VANILLA-001). Araceli Pérez Silva, Ziya Gunata, Jean-Paul Lepoutre & Eric Odoux, New insight on the genesis and fate of odor-active compounds in vanilla beans (Vanilla planifolia G. Jackson) during traditional curing, Food Research International, 2011.
- Key odorants of Tahitian cured vanilla beans (CLM-VANILLA-002). Makoto Takahashi et al., Identification of the Key Odorants in Tahitian Cured Vanilla Beans (Vanilla tahitensis) by GC-MS and an Aroma Extract Dilution Analysis, Bioscience, Biotechnology, and Biochemistry, 2013.
Molecules named in these claims: anisaldehyde, anisyl acetate, anisyl alcohol, vanillin. A molecule listed here is named in a VERIFIED claim about this smell. It is not presented as the cause of the smell; each claim says what its source supports.
Cite
SmellBook. (2026). Vanilla Bean (revision 5, 2026-10-06). SmellBook Public Atlas. smellbook:smell:vanilla-bean. https://smellbook.com/smells/vanilla-bean
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