Petitgrain Bigarade EO

Latin name :

Citrus aurantium

Botanical profile :

The bitter orange tree is a tree of the Rutaceae family and the Citrus genus.

Geographic origin :

Originally from South-East Asia, the bitter orange tree for petitgrain culrivation is now grown in Paraguay, the Maghreb, on the shores of the Mediterranean sea, in North and South America

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 bigaradier is a tree about 3 meters tall in adulthood, whose leaves contain a strong fragrant principle.
The essential oil of petitgrain bigarade results from the extraction of the deciduous branches with water. The twigs are cut so the tree is left as a shrub. The branches are stored in a large cart before they are brought to the factory where they are directly steam distilled.
After the hydrodistillation, the water found in the distillate is called ''eau de brout ''. The essential oil is collected by decantation, above the eau de brout.
The extraction yield of petitgrain bigarade is between 0.2 and 0.4%.
The bigaradier gives many extracts. The bitter orange EO is obtained by cold expression, the petitgrain can be extracted by steam distillation and the Orange Blossom Absolute is obtained by extraction with volatile solvent, unlike Neroli EO, which results from an extraction with water directly with the flowers.

Major Components :

Linalyl Acetate (≈50%)
Linalool (20-25%)
Alpha-Terpineol (≈6%)
Geranyl Acetate (≈4%)
Geraniol (≈3%)
Neryl Acetate (≈2%)