Printed from smellbook.com/smells/peanut-butter. This printout keeps the entry for Peanut Butter itself: its description, reference card, Connections, questions, evidence, related smells, record details, states, names and citation. It leaves out your own notes, the map, the lists of paths, routes, stories and fragrance directions, and the lists headed “Also linked to” (other entries that share its place or material) and “Linked from”; they are on the page online. The entries this one links to are still printed under Connections and Related smells.
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A dense roasted nut smell with warm, oily, savoury-sweet character.
Peanut butter smells dense, roasted and nutty, with a warm, oily richness and a savoury-sweet balance. EDITORIAL
Named in the VERIFIED claims about this smell: not a list of what it is made of, and not its cause.
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Links SmellBook records for this entry: what it comes from, where you meet it, molecules and related smells. EDITORIAL links are chosen by SmellBook editors and VERIFIED links come from VERIFIED claims. Nothing here is a ranking, and a molecule is not presented as the cause of the smell.
QUESTIONS ABOUT PEANUT BUTTER
Peanut butter smells dense, roasted and nutty, with a warm, oily richness and a savoury-sweet balance. The roasted note is strong when a jar is first opened and softens as it settles, leaving a smooth, slightly salty warmth. It is close to roasted peanuts or a nut-based sauce, and it can feel heavy and comforting rather than fresh.
It is met at breakfast on toast, in sandwiches and lunchboxes, and in baking such as cookies and bars. Opening a jar in the kitchen or spreading it on warm bread brings the smell up quickly.
Typical settings: toast, sandwich, breakfast.
SmellBook links it to one place page: see it in Connections.
One VERIFIED scientific claim from one published source is recorded for this entry: Key odorants of roasted peanuts. This claim says only what its source supports, in the scope shown with it.
6 molecules are named in this claim; see the evidence for the role the claim gives them. Each molecule this claim names has only the role the claim states; one molecule is not the whole smell.
Peanut Butter is a food-product profile and does not provide allergy or food-safety guidance.
Words that are easy to mix up: Is every warm smell spicy?
No historical source or heritage record is linked to this entry yet.
Answers marked EDITORIAL are written by SmellBook editors to describe the experience and add no scientific fact. Answers marked VERIFIED point to claims on published sources, checked against each source's own summary where one was available (each claim's page says how); what each claim supports is in its own text and scope.
Scientific evidence · 1 claim
Key odorants of roasted peanuts
In pan-roasted peanut meal, methanethiol, 2,3-pentanedione, 3-(methylthio)propanal, 2-methylbutanal, 3-methylbutanal and the popcorn-like 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline had the highest odour activity values, and aroma recombination confirmed the importance of methanethiol and lipid degradation products in the characteristic roasted peanut aroma.
Raw peanuts and freshly pan-roasted peanut meal, not peanut butter itself, whose roasted peanut smell it explains only in part.
How this was found: Odour analysis with human assessors. People smelled the separated compounds or the material itself (for example gas chromatography–olfactometry, dilution analysis, recombination or a sensory panel). Source: primary study; sensory or perception work.
Irene Chetschik, Michael Granvogl & Peter Schieberle
Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry
DOI 10.1021/jf1026636Each molecule is named by the claim shown after it. Each molecule named here has only the role the claim states; one molecule is not the whole smell. About molecules in SmellBook
Links chosen by SmellBook editors, not a ranking.
Associations can vary strongly by person, place and culture.
PATHS FROM HERE
Each step is a relationship SmellBook editors recorded in the knowledge graph, named as it is published there. Paths are not ranked or personalised, and they do not mean the smells smell alike.
Each step is a molecule that a VERIFIED claim names for both smells, in whatever role the claims state. Sharing a molecule does not mean two smells smell alike.
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WHERE THIS SMELL APPEARS
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FOR RESEARCHERS AND EDITORS
Identity, revision history, corrections and how to cite Peanut Butter.
CULTURAL: This entry's associations depend on context, language, memory or culture; its description and smell words are editorial. It says nothing about research or historical evidence; evidence for this entry is shown separately: VERIFIED.
A state says how an entry is met, such as wet, aged or roasted. It does not create a new smell, and it adds no scientific fact by itself: states marked EDITORIAL come from the entry's own records, and only those marked VERIFIED are reported by a VERIFIED claim.
How this entry is identified and named, for citing it or matching it with other records.
SmellBook SB-0123 — Peanut Buttersmellbook:smell:peanut-butterhttps://smellbook.com/smells/peanut-butterSmellBook. (2026). Peanut Butter (revision 3, 2026-10-06). SmellBook Public Atlas. smellbook:smell:peanut-butter. https://smellbook.com/smells/peanut-butter@misc{smellbook_peanut_butter_r3,
author = {{SmellBook}},
title = {Peanut Butter},
year = {2026},
note = {SmellBook Public Atlas, revision 3, 2026-10-06, smellbook:smell:peanut-butter},
url = {https://smellbook.com/smells/peanut-butter}
}TY - ENCYC ID - smellbook-peanut-butter-r3 TI - Peanut Butter AU - SmellBook T2 - SmellBook Public Atlas PY - 2026 DA - 2026/10/06 ET - revision 3 UR - https://smellbook.com/smells/peanut-butter N1 - SB-0123; smellbook:smell:peanut-butter; resolver https://smellbook.com/id/smell/peanut-butter ER -
The citation names revision 3 of 2026-10-06, so a reader can tell exactly which version was cited. Citing records what was read; it does not grant a licence.
Peanut Butter is a food-product profile and does not provide allergy or food-safety guidance.
Other entries whose editors linked to Peanut Butter:
Editorial description expanded to answer what it smells like and where you meet it; independently reviewed.
Created 2026-09-22 · Updated 2026-10-06Dataset history In the SmellBook dataset since the first of three dataset releases of 2026-09-30.
No correction notices published for this entry. Corrections policyEVIDENCE MATTERS
SmellBook separates cultural association, community perception, verified evidence, prediction and experimental relationships rather than presenting them as the same thing. Read the evidence guide ↗ See the evidence coverage report ↗