Common Name:	Sweet Orange
Botanical Name:	Citrus sinensis
Origin:	Southeast Asia, China
Appearance:	Pale to dark orange
Aroma:	Sweet citrus like freshly peeled fruit

Sweet Orange (Citrus sinensis) is cultivated around the world to produce many varieties. Blood oranges, Navel oranges, and Spanish are among the four types. Valencia oranges are usually used to produce sweet orange oil. Citrus oil like sweet orange oil contains citral. The orange oil has been produced in several ways, one of which is by separating the albedo, the peel’s white layer, from the rest of the peel. Cinnamon oil, clove oil, allspice, lavender oil, lemon oil, neroli, bergamot oil, and vanilla essential oil blend well with sweet orange oil. Try using with a candle lamp or other aromatherapy diffusers. Also use with cloves and orange peel in potpourri.

Innumerable hybrids of the orange tree, Citrus sinensis are cultivated in tropical areas around the globe. There are so many varieties that they have been classified into 4 groups according to geographical background and characteristics. The groups are:

1. Mediterranean oranges
2. Spanish oranges
3. Blood oranges
4. Navel oranges

Most oranges produced are Mediterranean and Spanish. Blood oranges have a wonderful flavor with dark red pulp and juice. Navel oranges are easy to eat since they are simple to peel and lack seeds. Although sweet orange oil can be produced from any of the four groups, it is usually made from Mediterranean and Spanish oranges, which are grown for their juice. Sweet orange oil is often made from the peel of the Valencia orange, a Spanish variety.

To produce high quality sweet orange oil and orange juice, the peel and the pulp must be separated thoroughly. Citrus oil such as sweet orange oil is “cold pressed” at room temperature rather than steam distilled. The heat from the distillation process causes the acids to break down, reduces the quantity of citral in the oil, and produces a harsh aroma. But the cold pressing process creates difficulties as well. The albedo or spongy white layer of the peel absorbs oil freed from the flavedo or thin outer layer, reducing yield. Oil gets trapped with wax particles and sticky pectin from the flavedo. The essential oils must then be separated using filtration and centrifugal force. Cold-pressed oils smell like fresh fruit and are light and sweet.

Due to the challenges faced from extracting citrus oils, special techniques and equipment were developed. Originally oil from the peel was hand-pressed using the "sponge method" developed in Sicily and Calabria as early as 1776. By wiping the oil with natural sponges once the fresh peels were squeezed by hand, the albedo was kept from absorbing the oil from the flavedo. The sponge absorbed not only the oil, but also the pectin and waxes from the flavedo. The pure oil could be wrung from the sponge because the pectin and waxes were retained in the sponge. Even though the sponge method produces high quality oil, the process is very slow and therefore expensive.

Because the sponge method was so inefficient, a number of appliances were developed in the early 1900s to produce oil from the peels. These appliances, called "sfumatrici", bent and rolled the peel as if peeling an orange by hand with the oil squirting out. Unfortunately, the orange still needed to be peeled by hand using the sfumatrici.

"Pellatrice" were developed allowing oil to be produced from the whole fruit. Different types of pellatrice are used today to separate the flavedo from the albedo by grating of the surface of the whole fruit. The oil that is discharged and flavedo particles then go through filtration and centrifuge. The remainder of the orange, without the flavedo, is processed for juice.

Good quality sweet orange essential oil is refreshing, energizing, and at the same time warm, comforting, and relaxing. Become refreshed and inspired by blending orange with lemon oil or bergamot oil. To relax, blend orange with neroli, lavender oil, or jasmine. Combine orange with spice oils like cinnamon oil, clove oil, and/or allspice oil to diffuse with a candle lamp or other aromatherapy diffusers for a winter time lift. Whole allspice, cinnamon, cloves, and orange peel make a wonderful potpourri and aroma any time of year.

Sweet orange is especially fun for kids because they recognize the familiar sweet aroma. For a balancing children's blend, combine 66 drops of orange oil and 34 drops of vanilla essential oil. The aroma is much a lot like an orange tootsie roll pop!  Always use high quality orange oil for maximum effectiveness.

To learn more about aromatherapy, click Learn and view topics under Aromatherapy, Essential Oils, & Lavender. See items under Aromatherapy Oil Information & Recipes to learn more about individual essential oils and the plants from which they come with more aromatherapy recipes included.