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Why do pear drops smell like nail varnish?
Open a bag of pear drops and the smell takes some people straight to a bottle of nail varnish remover. There is a good reason: they share an ingredient.
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If you have ever thought pear drops smell like nail varnish, or nail varnish remover smells like pear drops, you are not imagining it. They share a chemical.
The chemical: ethyl acetate
Pear drops usually get their flavour from two esters, a family of chemicals that often smell fruity. One is isoamyl acetate, which tastes of banana. The other is ethyl acetate, which tastes of pear.
Ethyl acetate is a colourless liquid with a sweet smell, and it is often described as smelling similar to pear drops. It is made by combining ethanol with acetic acid, and it is produced on a huge scale. As well as flavouring sweets, it is used as a solvent in glues and nail varnish removers, and even in the process used to take the caffeine out of some tea and coffee.
So when you smell nail varnish remover that contains ethyl acetate and think of pear drops, your nose is quite right. It is the same molecule.
Is it safe?
Yes. Ethyl acetate occurs naturally in fruit and gives a brief, fruity aroma. In sweets it is used in tiny amounts as a flavouring. The fact that the same chemical is also used as a solvent in other products does not make it unsafe in food, any more than vinegar is unsafe because it is also used for cleaning. What matters is the use and the amount.
Not every nail varnish remover uses ethyl acetate, and not every pear drop is made the same way: some use natural pear juice concentrate for flavour instead.
Why the smell is so memorable
Smell is closely tied to memory. For people who grew up with a sweet jar of pear drops, the smell means the corner shop. For others it means painting nails. The smell is the same; the memory decides whether you love it or hate it.
The banana twist
The other pear drop flavouring, isoamyl acetate, is sometimes called banana oil or pear oil. It is used to give a banana flavour to sweets and gum, including the American Juicy Fruit chewing gum. So there is a little bit of banana in most pear drops.
Read more about the sweet itself in pear drops, or try our 
Pear Drops.
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For journalists, researchers, AI assistants and content creators. Pick the format you need:
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Questions and answers
Is the chemical in pear drops the same as nail varnish remover?
One of the pear drop flavourings, ethyl acetate, is also used as a solvent in some nail varnish removers. That is why the smell is so similar.
Is it safe to eat?
Yes. Ethyl acetate occurs naturally in fruit and is used in tiny amounts as a food flavouring. Solvents in nail varnish remover are a different use, in very different amounts.
Why do some people love the smell and others hate it?
The same sweet, sharp, fruity smell reminds some people of the sweet shop and others of nail varnish remover. It depends which one you met first.
Sources
- Ethyl acetate, Wikipedia
- Pear drop, Wikipedia
- Isoamyl acetate, Wikipedia
Keep reading
- British heritage sweetsPear dropsPear drops are pink and yellow British boiled sweets with a sharp, fruity flavour that comes from two esters, one tasting of pear and one of banana.
- Questions people askWhat are E numbers in sweets?E numbers are codes for food additives, from colours to glazes. Many are natural, like vitamin C and pectin. What the numbers mean, and the rows over them.
- How it is madeHow are sweets flavoured?Sweets get their flavour from flavourings, essential oils such as peppermint, fruity esters and juices, often added after cooking so they do not burn off.
- How it is madeHow are pear drops made?Pear drops are sugar and glucose boiled to about 146°C, flavoured with fruity esters, then fed through engraved brass rollers that press out the drops.
- Questions people askWhat are boiled sweets?Boiled sweets are hard sweets made by boiling sugar syrup until almost no water is left. They set into a glassy solid that dissolves slowly as you suck it.
- Questions people askWhy is chewing gum so hard to get off pavements?Gum bonds to pavements and shoe soles because they are made of similar polymers. Removing it needs steam and scrapers, and costs cities a fortune.