There are a few scents that people with different cultures and tastes claim are the absolute best. But you probably want to know which one tops the list. The best ranked smell in the world is vanilla. Safe to say everyone loves vanilla. At least, almost everyone. Scientists have helped us confirm that through a study.
The study was conducted by scientists from the University of Oxford and Stockholm’s Karolinska Institute. The scientists got 235 participants from different places around the world to smell the ten vials containing different smells. The vials were randomly presented to each subject; and in no particular order.
Odours used in this study covered a variety of smells available all over the world. They used chemicals to produce the smells of: sweaty feet, ripe fruits, lavender, decaying fish, smelly cheese, peaches, roses, sweaty goats, green pepper, cloves and mushrooms.
The main idea behind the study was to determine whether odour preferences were social/culturally informed or not. Hence, the selection of subjects from, at least, nine different cultures and places across the world. The isolated participants had lived in widely different odiferous environments like rainforest, coast, mountain and city.
It was also important to the researchers that the participants had not been exposed to Western conventions of smell. This was to prevent the participants from being biased based on cultural exposure.
The participants were to rank the vials from pleasant to worst after sniffing them. Turned out vanilla had the highest votes as the most pleasant. This was the ranking for the others:
2 Peaches
3 Lavender
4 Cloves
5 Rose
6 Mushrooms
7 Sweaty goats
8 Green peppers
9 Pungent garlic/decaying fish
10 Sweaty feet.
It was discovered that cultures around the world rank different odours in a similar way. Personal preference accounted for 54 percent of people’s choices while cultural leanings accounted for a meagre 6% of those choices.
The scientists opined that these cross-cultural preferences for certain scents could have roots in human evolution. It’s possible knowledge of some scents increased chances of survival at some point in history.
Now, back to the star of the show- vanilla.
Vanilla is gotten from the seeds of an edible dried pod of a climbing orchid-like plant. Surprisingly, the flower itself is odorless.
Vanilla is an all-time favourite in the food industry. It even ranks as the second most expensive spice in the world. Vanilla is also used as a flavoring in syrups for medications.
In perfumery, vanilla is a universal star. It is typically a perfect ingredient in oriental perfumes. Vanilla has an inviting soft, warm and delicate note that many find very sensual and appealing. Vanilla easily blends with a host of notes in perfumery to produce sensational results. In addition, aromatherapy with vanilla has been reported to help combat hysteria and depression.
The forms of vanilla used in perfumery are: vanilla tincture, vanillin, ethyl-vanillin and vanilla absolute.
So, if you’re ever in doubt of what to wear and you want it to be something almost everyone will love, give vanilla a chance.
