Limonene
Limonene is the peel, valencene is the flesh. The oil that sprays when you tear an orange is limonene; the juice underneath is valencene.
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Valencene is named after the Valencia orange, and that is exactly what it smells like — sweet orange, not the sharp lemon of limonene. Tangerines and grapefruit carry it too. In a jar it's the difference between citrus that smells like fruit and citrus that smells like cleaning product.
About Valencene
It runs bright and up, in the same family as limonene but softer about it. Valencene is also a natural insect deterrent, which by now you'll recognise as the pattern — most of what smells good to us was never meant for us.
At 123°C / 253°F valencene is fragile, and sweet citrus is the first absence anyone notices. This is the terpene most likely to convince you that you did something wrong at harvest, because the gap between "smelled like oranges on the plant" and "smells like grass in the jar" can be a single warm afternoon.
Terpene Data
Chemical FormulaC₁₅H₂₄
Boiling Point123°C / 253°F
EffectEnergizing
AromaSweet citrus, orange, fresh
Surviving the Dry
123°C
Most volatile (100°C)Most heat-tolerant (230°C)
One of the first things a warm drying room takes — dry cool and slow, or this is the note you lose.
Medical Benefits
Also Found In
- Valencia oranges
- Tangerines
- Grapefruits
- Mangoes
High in These Strains
Tangie
Commonly Confused With
Ocimene
Ocimene is sweet and green. Valencene is sweet and orange, with a woody note behind it.
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Both sweet, both faintly citrus. Geraniol goes to rose; valencene stays orange.
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