Mandarin: the juicy citrus that sparkles in top notes

Where does mandarin come from?

Mandarin is the fruit of Citrus reticulata, a small citrus tree grown in tropical and subtropical areas. Genetic studies show that the wild mandarin was one of the original citrus species and, with the citron and the pomelo, the ancestor of the most commercially important hybrids. Wikipedia's article on the mandarin orange adds that most commercial strains owe their sweetness to hybridisation with the pomelo, since the ancestral mandarin was bitter.

The fragrance oil is expressed from the peel. Its composition changes with the cultivar and with ripeness: green, partly ripe yellow and fully ripe red fruit each give a different oil. The leaves and branches yield a separate material, petitgrain mandarin, made by distillation.

What does mandarin smell like?

Mandarin peel oil is described as citrus and floral, with bitter orange, orange rind, terpenic, aldehydic and neroli facets. Next to sweet orange, itself a hybrid of mandarin and pomelo, mandarin brings those floral and bitter orange tones, a link to neroli, the blossom oil of the bitter orange tree.

What does mandarin do in a perfume?

Mandarin sits in the citrus family, among the bright oils of a fragrance's opening. The history of eau de Cologne lists tangerine and clementine among the citrus oils of a cologne, with bergamot, lemon and neroli; the entry on the tangerine describes it as a variety of the mandarin, or a closely related species. The class on the seven fragrance families places these materials in context.

What should you know about mandarin?

Some mandarin materials contain small amounts of phototoxic furocoumarins. The International Fragrance Association (IFRA) Standard on citrus oils and furocoumarins gives typical levels of about 50 ppm for petitgrain mandarin oil and for cold-pressed tangerine oil. Used alone, these levels do not require special restrictions, but they count when combined with other furocoumarin-containing oils, such as expressed bergamot or cold-pressed lemon, whose limits are added together.