Mandarin Yellow EO

Latin name :

Citrus reticulata

Botanical profile :

Mandarin is the fruit of the mandarin tree, of the Rutaceae family and the Citrus genus.

Geographic origin :

Native to South-East Asia (China, Vietnam), mandarin is cultivated in Italy, North and South America, Spain and China

Chemotypes :

The genus Citrus includes the vast majority of citrus fruits and includes a large number of varieties available in perfumery:
Bergamot - (Citrus bergamia) is a hybrid of lemon and bitter orange, grown for the essential oil of its fruit and petitgrain.
Bitter orange or bigarade orange - (Citrus aurantium), grown in Spain and Florida.
Citron - (Citrus medica), grown in Italy (Sicily).
Lemon - (Citrus limon), cultured in Italy for the essential oil of its fruit and of its leafy twigs (Petitgrain).
Combava - (Citrus hystrix), grown in Thailand and India.
Lime - (Citrus aurantifolia), grown for its fruit in Mexico for the most part.
Mandarin - (Citrus reticulata), grown mainly in Italy for its fruit and for its petitgrain, by extracting the leaves from the tree. Its hybrid with sweet orange gave birth to clementine.
Orange - (Citrus sinensis) is famous for the cultivation of its fruits, whose juice and essential oil are extracted in Brazil and California in particular, which is the most used of all perfumes.
Grapefruit - (Citrus paradisii) of Malay origin, is cultivated for its essential oil in Brazil and Israel in particular.
Yuzu - (Citrus junos), produced in Japan and Korea.

Extraction process :

The mandarin tree can measure up to two meters in height and its fruits diameter is 5 to 9 centimetres.
This quality of mandarin is called ''Yellow '' because the fruit is harvested when it is nearly ripe. Before being orange/red, the fruit is yellow. It is possible to obtain different qualities of mandarin depending on the degree of ripeness of the fruit. In chronological order of harvest: Mandarin Green EO (harvest in Oct/Nov) then Mandarin Yellow EO (or Light Mandarin - harvest in Nov/Dec) and finally Mandarin Red EO (harvest in Jan/Feb).
The harvest is done in december, in the middle of the harvest season and can be done manually or mechanically depending on the crop. The fruits are placed in a basket or container and taken to the factory.
The essential oil of mandarin is obtained by cold expression, as for Bergamot EO and Sweet Orange EO. Fruits are sent to the factory where they are sorted and washed. Afterwards, they go into a sfumatrice to remove and crush the zest. During this process, all the epicarp pockets containing the essential oil burst. The essential oil and zest debris are driven to a centrifuge by a stream of water. Centrifugation is used to separate the essential oil from the zest, then from the water in a decanter.

The essential oil of mandarin can be subjected to a new distillation to remove some terpenes or to isolate them. ''Mandarin terpenes '' and a deterpenated mandarin essential oil are obtained. A deterpenated essential oil is more powerful because it contains more aldehydes and other powerful compounds in its composition. The oil can be rectified to remove the furocoumarins (photosensitizers).

Major Components :

D-Limonene (65-70%)
Alpha-Terpinene (15-20%)
Cimène (1-8%)
Alpha-Pinene (≈2%)
Myrcene (≈2%)
Beta-Pinene (≈2%)
Aldehyde C-8 (< 1%)
Aldehyde C-10 (<1%)
Dimethyl Anthranilate (≈0,5%)

Be careful, proportions of linalool, D-limonene, Cimene, Alpha-Terpineol and Elemene may change according to the degree of ripeness of the fruit.