Scents to savour: Perfumer H transforms smells into tastes

Cucumber, pear, and salt might sound like ingredients better suited to a dinner plate than a perfume bottle, but British perfumer Lyn Harris has transformed those familiar flavours into sensory delights well-matched to both. Out this month, Harris’ fragrance brand, Perfumer H, launches a new capsule of scents alongside corresponding pantry staples- a Salt perfume with matching table salt, a Pear fragrance and complimentary jasmine tea, and a Cucumber scent that is just as piquant as its correlative pickled cucumber. 

Harris made her name in perfumery with the launch of her brand Miller Harris in 2000 and has since moved on to create Perfumer H. It's a meticulously curated fragrance line with an aesthetic that’s uniquely British- refined, minimal, and bold- think fashion’s Margaret Howell or the furniture of Robin Day but in fragrance.

Harris brings that same sensibility to this new line of pantry goods, working with fine producers to create uncomplicated, high-quality fare that can easily transform the most simple of dishes.  

The salt of the Pantry Collection was made in collaboration with French specialty spice house Epices Roellinger, located in the childhood home of Michelin-star chef Olivier Roellinger. Harris, who had been cooking with Epices Roellinger salt throughout lockdown, concocted a Salt fragrance which she then asked the Roellinger family to translate into an edible seasoning.

‘When I tasted it, I couldn't believe how closely they got it,' says Harris. The salt captures the rosemary and white sage of the fragrance and enhances it with a hint of rose flavors and warm cardamom. 

The watery scent of ‘Cucumber,’ a mixture of bergamot, watermelon, and lemon rind fused with cedarwood and sea moss, finds it’s a culinary compliment in pickles made by Rosebud Preserves. Located in a series of 19th-century barns in North Yorkshire, the preserve company transformed Harris’s scent into a range of pickled cucumbers flavoured with lemon rind and juniper berries.

The final element of the pantry collection, violet leaf tea, is complemented by Perfumer H’s floral Pear perfume. The bergamot, mandarin and white pear scent is combined with rosewood, sugared musk with vanilla to make a fragrance that is just as appetizing Postcard Teas’ jasmine blend. 

Harris has worked with Tim d’Offay, Wallpaper* Handmade alumnus and founder of Postcard Teas, for over 15 years and this specialty tea blends Darjeeling and a Miaoli White Tip Oolong with vibrant notes of blackcurrant, violet leaf and vanilla bourbon.

As with previous Perfumer H perfumes, Cucumber, Pear, and Salt are available in glass bottles handblown by Michael Ruh and, for the first time, feature an asymmetrical typeface by Frith Kerr, making the Pantry Collection a project that brings together the talents of culinary artisans, craftsmen, and designers for a truly multi-disciplinary lockdown collaboration.

INFORMATION

perfumerh.com