Printed from smellbook.com/smells/pear. This printout keeps the entry for Pear 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.
Categories and types group entries for browsing; they are editorial, not evidence. How smells are grouped.
A crisp-to-soft fruit smell with watery, sweet and lightly green character.
Its type, Source, means the smell is named after “a physical origin that can contribute a smell”; it is not an evidence source, such as a study or a book. The origin page for Pear (the food or drink, not this smell entry) lists every smell recorded as coming from it.
Pear smells fresh, watery and sweet, with a light green crispness in firmer fruit. EDITORIAL
Named in the VERIFIED claims about this smell: not a list of what it is made of, and not its cause.
This entry links to
Other entries that link to this one
Links SmellBook records for this entry: what it comes from, where you meet it, molecules, related smells and comparisons. 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 PEAR
Pear smells fresh, watery and sweet, with a light green crispness in firmer fruit. As it ripens, the odour becomes softer and more honeyed, with a mellow, almost floral sweetness close to a juicy apple or melon. The smell is delicate rather than strong and is easiest to notice when the fruit is cut or held close to the nose.
It is met in fruit bowls and markets, in lunchboxes and on cheese boards, and when slicing fresh pear in the kitchen. Many people notice it in late summer and autumn, when a bowl of soft, ripe pears sits on the counter.
Typical settings: fruit bowl, market, freshly cut pear.
SmellBook links it to 2 place pages: see them in Connections.
One VERIFIED scientific claim from one published source is recorded for this entry: Dominant volatiles of fragrant pears. This claim says only what its source supports, in the scope shown with it.
8 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.
Pear ranges from crisp and green to soft and honeyed depending on ripeness.
SmellBook records one written comparison with other smells: see it in Connections.
Words that are easy to mix up: Is fresh the same as clean?, How do green and herbal differ?, Why is creamy not just sweet? and Is citrus a kind of fresh?
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
Dominant volatiles of fragrant pears
In stored Kuerle fragrant pears, hexanal, ethyl hexanoate, ethyl butanoate, ethyl acetate, hexyl acetate, ethanol, α-farnesene and butyl acetate were among the dominant volatiles, gas chromatography–olfactometry indicated that the collected volatiles were responsible for the pear's aroma, and during storage some aroma-related volatiles increased while others, especially esters, decreased.
One pear variety (Pyrus serotina) over months of storage.
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.
Ji Luan Chen, Ji Hong Wu, Qiang Wang, Hui Deng & Xiao Song Hu
Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry
DOI 10.1021/jf061089gEach molecule is named by the claim shown after it. Each molecule named here has only the role the claim states. 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.
MY SMELLBOOK · LOCAL ONLY
These controls save only in this browser. Nothing here is uploaded to a SmellBook account or server.
Personal tags stay in this browser and do not change the entry's own smell words.
MAP THIS SMELL
Follow the related smells our editors recorded, or use Smell Between to compare this smell with any other, field by field.
WHERE THIS SMELL APPEARS
These links were chosen by editors to help you explore; they are not scores or rankings.
FOR RESEARCHERS AND EDITORS
Identity, revision history, corrections and how to cite Pear.
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-0126 — Pearsmellbook:smell:pearhttps://smellbook.com/smells/pearSmellBook. (2026). Pear (revision 3, 2026-10-06). SmellBook Public Atlas. smellbook:smell:pear. https://smellbook.com/smells/pear@misc{smellbook_pear_r3,
author = {{SmellBook}},
title = {Pear},
year = {2026},
note = {SmellBook Public Atlas, revision 3, 2026-10-06, smellbook:smell:pear},
url = {https://smellbook.com/smells/pear}
}TY - ENCYC ID - smellbook-pear-r3 TI - Pear AU - SmellBook T2 - SmellBook Public Atlas PY - 2026 DA - 2026/10/06 ET - revision 3 UR - https://smellbook.com/smells/pear N1 - SB-0126; smellbook:smell:pear; resolver https://smellbook.com/id/smell/pear 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.
Pear ranges from crisp and green to soft and honeyed depending on ripeness.
Other entries whose editors linked to Pear:
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 ↗