Vanilla is one of the most loved smells in the home. It is soft, warm and a little sweet. But when you light vanilla scented candles, are you smelling a real vanilla pod? Usually not, and that is nothing to worry about. Here is where the smell comes from, and why perfumers have leaned on it for well over a century.

Where Vanilla Scented Candles Get Their Smell

Real vanilla comes from the pod of an orchid called Vanilla planifolia. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew says it is native to the tropical forests of Mexico and Central America. Anywhere else, growers have to pollinate each flower by hand. It stays open for only about eight hours.

After that, the pod takes around a year to ripen. Then growers dry and cure it. That is when the smell develops. Kew calls vanilla the second most expensive spice after saffron, because growing it takes so much work.

What gives vanilla its smell?

The main smell molecule is vanillin. A vanilla pod holds nearly 200 different molecules, says the University of Bristol School of Chemistry. Vanillin is the one your nose knows best.

Natural Vanilla Candle or Vanillin: The Myth

Many people think a true vanilla smell must come from pods. In fact, Bristol's chemists say less than 5% of vanilla flavouring now comes from natural sources. The rest is vanillin that makers produce in other ways.

Makers can produce it from eugenol, a molecule found in cloves. It can also come from guaiacol, or from lignin, which is left over from making paper. Kew notes that much of the vanilla essence used today comes from wood pulp.

So a vanilla candle that smells lovely has not let you down. It is the same family of smell, made in a steadier and cheaper way, without waiting on a flower that opens for only a few hours.

Vanilla in Perfume and Candle Fragrance

Perfumers have used vanillin for a long time. The Bristol team points to Jicky from 1889 and Shalimar from 1925, two classic Guerlain perfumes. Both use it as a key part of the blend.

In a candle, vanilla often sits in the base notes, the part still there hours later. It softens the sharper notes above it. In our Advent Calendar, you will find it in Frosted Berries, with vanilla musk, and in Merry Macaron, with vanilla cream.

Quick answers

Is there real vanilla in a vanilla candle?

Usually very little. Most vanilla scent comes from vanillin, the main smell molecule in the pod, made from other sources. Less than 5% of vanilla flavouring comes from natural vanilla.

What does vanillin smell like?

Vanillin smells sweet, creamy and warm, like the inside of a split vanilla pod. It is the most familiar part of the vanilla smell, which is why so many candles and perfumes rely on it.

So the next time a vanilla candle smells like a bakery, you know the story behind it. A rare orchid, a lot of patience and some clever chemistry. If sweet, creamy scents are your favourite, look for Merry Macaron behind one of the doors of the Glow Advent Calendar.

Related reading

• Candle Perfume Notes Explained: Top, Heart and Base: how a scent is built, note by note.
• Fragrance in Candles: Does More Oil Really Mean More Scent?: another candle myth, put to the test.
• Candle Scents Explained: Fruity, Fresh, Floral and More: where vanilla sits among the families.