The
Tonka Bean, fruit of the Dipteryx Odorata (or Dipteryx Coumarou),
originates from South America, where it was used to flavour tobacco. It was imported
from Guyana to France in 1793 and cultivated in green houses. Today Venezuela, Guyana and Brazil are the main producers. The seeds of the Tonka Bean are immersed in rum for a period which can last from 12 to 24 hours and are then dried. During this process they become covered in white crystals from which the pure essential oil is extracted. The olfactory notes of the Tonka Bean belong to the powdery facet: it is part of amber, tobacco and oriental accords.
At the end of the XIX century there was a decisive change in fragrance creation: thanks to the development of organic chemistry, the aroma chemicals which constitute the olfactory principle of many raw materials were isolated. Coumarin, for example, which is the aroma chemical of the Tonka Bean, was discovered in 1868 and takes its name from the very same Dipteryx Coumarou. It i s an important molecule in the construction of men’s fragrances known as “Fougère”.
