Description

Bitter orange is a plant. The peel, flower, leaf, fruit, and fruit juice are used to make medicine. Bitter orange oil is made from the peel. 

It has a place in many products spanning the healthcare, aromatherapy and flavour and fragrance sectors.

In aromatherapy, the essential oil of bitter orange is applied to the skin and also inhaled as a painkiller.

Bitter orange peel is applied to the skin for swelling (inflammation) of the eyelid and its lining, as well as the retina in the eye. It is also used for bleeding from the retina, exhaustion accompanying colds, headaches, nerve pain, muscular pain, joint pain, bruises, swelling of the veins (phlebitis), hair loss and bed sores.

Bitter orange peel is also used to improve appetite, and, in surprising contrast, it is also used for weight loss. Many herbal weight-loss products now use concentrated extracts of bitter orange peel in place of ephedra. Bitter orange is frequently used in “ephedra-free” products since the FDA banned ephedra in 2004 for serious side effects on the heart. . However there is little evidence to suggest that bitter orange is any safer than ephedra.

Bitter orange has a sour and bitter taste. It is commonly used as a flavouring agent but very rarely eaten whole. The dried peel can be used as a seasoning. As a flavouring agent you will find it in liqueurs such as Triple Sec, Grand Marnier, Cointreau, and Curacao.

Major producing countries include Argentina, Brazil and Spain.