Happy 2023....And Orange Love!

Welcome to 2023…….I don’t want to jinx anything, so I’ll just say we are ready for a nice year, and it’s about time. The last part of 2022 seemed like it was starting to go in a better direction, so let’s hope that direction continues. Remember, if you haven’t started off 2023 well, it’s ok, that can change. And if 2023 so far has been a relief, or acceptable, or good, or even superlative, then awesome, and hopefully that can carry through. My point is that we’ve been through a lot. It’s not unreasonable to think this year will be better.

Orange Love

We carry several orange essential oils at Enfleurage. Being a Southern California native, I consider oranges to be one of the 5 basic food groups, along with chocolate, coffee, greens, and cheese.

All citrus has some actions in common. With the exception of a certain distillation of lime peel, (which results in a “lime candy” essential oil,) citrus oil is always pressed from the peel. All citruses have an uplifting, happy feel.

According to Arctander, the pressed oil of sweet orange marks the apex of all citrus oils, although he gets fussy immediately considering sweet orange is expressed from the peel and not distilled and then talks himself out of it entirely when considering lemon so let’s just say that sweet orange is a very important, very useful, happy and lively essential oil, liked by nearly everyone, and very likely to elicit a happy response when smelled.

The origin of orange trees is most likely China, and they were transported around the world, including to where we see orange essential oil commercial production; West Africa, Southern Europe and the Americas. In Arabic, the word for “orange” is burtogal, presumably after arriving in Arabic speaking lands, from Portugal.

Accordingly, oranges have adapted to these varying micro-climates, for heat, humidity and rain, or lack of. They can be found in most warm-temperate, semi-tropical and even tropical zones. They are kept away by frost. According to Arctander, most places that grow oranges press the peels for oil, (this was circa 1960), mostly for domestic use in local sodas and the like. This may well be true to a certain extent today, but there are several main geographical productions and orange oils can be found world wide.

Let’s start with the most technicolor one—Wild Orange from the Dominican Republic. We almost don’t believe it when we smell it, as it’s so incredibly bright and mouthwateringly rich and juicy. Even though this is Citrus sinensis, it’s almost like a psychedelic orange. Go for this one if you want orange porn. Wild Orange

Now our good, solid American organic sweet orange oil, Citrusaurantium Dulcis, Citrus sinensis.

This is a lovely sweet orange is known for its sunny, sweet and happy note. We are also now working with a small organic farm in Italy, and will be segueing our sweet orange oil over to a new Italian organic sweet orange. Both are happy, crisp, cheerful and bright, and pressed from organically grown fruit. If you have a recipe, or are using for flavor, or adding to your essential oil library, this is the orange to go for. Sweet Orange

Italian Blood Orange—Citrus sinensis

Blood orange has an assertive and ripe scent. The monographs available on orange encompass both sweet orange and blood orange—the scents of all our oranges vary somewhat—blood orange also—the botanical name remains Citrus aurantium or sinenses……Their histories are similar, as are any aromatherapeutic benefits. I think it’s more a question of personal preference and your aim organoleptically. Blood Orange

ethereal orange

like a star shining

bright'ning all it touches

happiness follows

by Lester Cohen