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    Ingredient Profile

    Fig milk fragrance note

    Fig milk captures the silky sap of a ripe fig, offering a creamy, green-laced aroma that bridges fresh fruit and soft wood. Its subtle sweet…More

    Fruity Notes·Turkey

    5

    Fragrances

    Fruity Notes

    Family

    Fragrances featuring Fig milk

    5

    Character

    The Story of Fig milk

    Fig milk captures the silky sap of a ripe fig, offering a creamy, green-laced aroma that bridges fresh fruit and soft wood. Its subtle sweetness and milky veil give perfumers a rare, natural nuance.

    Heritage

    Fig milk has been prized since antiquity, when ancient Greeks and Romans used fig sap in cosmetics and incense for its soothing properties. The first documented use of fig milk as a fragrance ingredient appears in 19th‑century French perfumery, where it was mixed with amber and citrus to add a soft, milky undertone. Modern perfumery embraced the note in the 1990s; Olivia Giacobetti’s Premier Figuier (1994) built its heart around fig milk, marking the first major launch centered on this ingredient. Over the following decades, the note migrated from niche houses to mainstream lines, often recreated synthetically to meet demand. Today, fig milk remains a signature element in compositions that seek a natural yet refined green‑cream character.

    At a Glance

    Fragrances

    5

    Feature this note

    Family

    Fruity Notes

    Olfactive group

    Origin

    Turkey

    Primary source region

    Ingredient Details

    Extraction

    Solvent extraction

    Used Parts

    Milky latex (sap) from ripe figs

    Did You Know

    "The milky latex of figs contains up to 0.8 ml of sap per fruit, and its signature lactone, γ-nonalactone, was first isolated in 1965, paving the way for modern synthetic fig milk."

    Pyramid Presence

    Top
    2
    Heart
    3

    Production

    How Fig milk Is Made

    Fig milk originates from the latex that oozes when a ripe fig is sliced. Harvesters in the Mediterranean make shallow cuts on the fruit and collect the milky sap in glass containers, then filter it to remove pulp. Because the natural latex yields only a few millilitres per fruit, producers often turn to solvent extraction, using food‑grade ethanol to pull the aromatic lactones from the filtered latex. The extract is then vacuum‑distilled to concentrate γ-nonalactone and related compounds, which give the note its characteristic creamy green scent. In most contemporary perfumery, the natural extract is blended with a laboratory‑synthesized version that replicates the same lactone profile, ensuring a steady supply and consistent aroma across batches.

    Provenance

    Turkey

    Turkey39.0°N, 35.2°E

    About Fig milk