Gone Bananas... For Bananas!

Dear Readers,

As an ode to National Banana Day (April 20, 2022), we want to take a kind appreciation for its fragrant abundance and give a brief history of the delightful fruit and all of its glory within perfumery. 

With every ripe banana, there is always a glorious aroma and smiles nearby (Some are yellow)!

  

Image courtesy: @luxuryscentbox

 

Historians theorize that the first fruit on earth is thought to be the banana!

A banana is actually a berry and not a fruit. Botanically a berry contains seeds inside the flesh, and not on the outside, hence the fundamentals of a banana.

This renowned berry originated in Southeast Asia, in the jungles of Malaysia. They traded through Indonesia or the Philippines, to Western Asia, and then Africa. Today there are over 1,000 varieties of wild bananas that still grow today.

Banana oil is composed of isoamyl acetate, which is an organic compound found in high concentrations in banana peels, which is predominantly where the banana gets its fragrance.

Banana oil is known to have some important benefits including soothing the skin, slowing hair loss, moisturizing the scalp, preventing premature aging, eliminating dandruff, and boosting the immune system.

Banana oil is one of the most sought-after artificial fragrances within the beauty and perfumery industry because of its complex chemical compounds, and its olfactory likeliness. 

The perfumery of the banana oil can depend on the ripeness of the fruit, lacking the number of chemical compounds to reach full potency, showing more bitter green herbal scents, ranging to sugar intensified aromas. 

The most modern form of banana scented fragrances allude to its true scents rather than mimicking the fragrance itself consisting of olfactory associations such as vanilla, coconuts, banana leaves, and cocoa.