Cherry Smoothie by Zara

 

Depending on how many of my posts you've read so far, you might have noticed that I don't share the perfume pyramid and all of the notes. Sure, they are helpful in preventing you from wasting time testing perfumes you will despise because you hate patchouli in all of its forms, or you can't stand the smell of licorice. However, many times the notes are misleading. That leads to biased expectations. And if you aren't smelling what you expected to, you may simply hate the perfume because of the cognitive dissonance that comes from what you think this should smell versus what it actually smells like.

This brings me to Zara's Cherry Smoothie. Is this a cherry fragrance? Yes. Is this an almond fragrance? Sure. But above all, to my nose, this is a honey fragrance. Honey is not listed in the notes but I find it plays a large role in this perfume. It is the glue, the sticky thick syrupy sweetness, that keeps the other notes blended together. 

I've heard many mentioning this perfume smells very artificial. I wonder if that's because they're not expecting the honey since it's not listed in the notes.

What do I get from Cherry Smoothie? Imagine very finely powdered almonds. Pour that fine almond powder and a drop of amaretto into a pot of golden honey and stir gently until everything blends. Then drop a handful of sweet maraschino cherries into the pot, stir in a circular motion and THAT is the Cherry Smoothie my nose is picking up.

While we're on this topic, what are maraschino cherries? We may have found them on top of an ice cream or on a cocktail before. But where do they come from? How are they made?

Maraschino cherries originated in Yugoslavia and northern Italy about 200 years ago. Merchants in these regions used a sweet cherry called the Marasca cherry as the base. They let it soak in maraschino liqueur until it was ready to be used as a tasty treat (source). 

This sounds wonderful and it really made me crave them. Until I discovered that most modern maraschino cherries are made in a very different way.

Today, the majority of commercial maraschino cherries begin as regular cherries. Usually, varieties that are lighter in color, such as Gold, Rainier, or Royal Ann cherries, are used. The cherries are first soaked in a brine solution that typically contains calcium chloride and sulfur dioxide. This bleaches the cherries, removing their natural red pigment and flavor. The cherries are left in the brine solution for four to six weeks. After bleaching, they’re soaked in another solution for about one month. This solution contains red food dye, sugar, and oil of bitter almonds or an oil with a similar flavor. The end result are bright red, very sweet cherries (source).

They are bleached and then soaked in red dye and sugar. Maybe next time I have an ice cream I'll skip the cherry on top. But I can always count on Zara's Cherry Smoothie for my sweet maraschino cherry fix. And the almond oil in the manufacturing process is probably one other reason why I associate this scent with maraschino cherries. 

And honey. Lots of honey. 

What about you? Does this smell strongly of honey to you too?

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