Petitgrain

Origin

Steam-distilled from the leaves and young twigs of the bitter orange tree, historically from Paraguay and the Mediterranean orchards of southern France and Italy. The name comes from the practice of once distilling the small unripe green fruits, the 'little grains'.

The smell

Green and woody, with the dry snap of crushed twigs and a faintly bitter, medicinal edge. It carries a ghost of the orange flower it shares a tree with, but where neroli is soft and luminous, petitgrain is austere and a little sharp, like the smell of a freshly cut branch. There is a cooling, almost herbal quality that keeps it bracing rather than sweet.

Key quality

The dry green note that gives a barbershop cologne its restraint and masculine spine.

Historical use

It became a workhorse of nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century colognes precisely because it offered the orange tree's aroma at a fraction of neroli's cost. Paraguay became the dominant producer in the early twentieth century, and the material featured heavily in the clipped, contained men's fragrances of the interwar period.