Bitter orange

For the fruit known as "Chinese Bitter Orange," see Trifoliate orange.

The name "bitter orange", also known as Seville orange, sour orange, bigarade orange, and marmalade orange, refers to a citrus tree (Citrus × aurantium) and its fruit. Many varieties of bitter orange are used for their essential oil, which is used in perfume and as a flavoring. The Seville orange variety is used in the production of marmalade.

Bitter orange is also employed in herbal medicine as a stimulant and appetite suppressant.^[2][3] The active ingredient, synephrine, has been linked to a number of deaths, and consumer groups advocate avoiding medicinal use of the fruit.^[4]

Contents 1 Varieties 2 Uses 2.1 In cooking 2.2 As an herbal stimulant 2.3 Other uses 3 See also 4 References 5 External links

Varieties

• Citrus aurantium subsp. amara is a spiny evergreen tree native to southern Vietnam, but widely cultivated. It is used as grafting stock for citrus trees, in marmalade, and in liqueur such as triple sec, Grand Marnier and Curaçao. It is also cultivated for the essential oil expressed from the fruit, and for neroli oil and orange flower water, which are distilled from the flowers.
• Seville orange (or bigarade) is a widely-known, particularly tart orange which is now grown throughout the Mediterranean region. It has a thick, dimpled skin, and is prized for making marmalade, being higher in pectin than the sweet orange, and therefore giving a better set and a higher yield. It is also used in compotes and for orange-flavored liqueurs. Once a year, oranges of this variety are collected from trees in Seville and shipped to Britain to be used in marmalade.^[5] However, the fruit is rarely consumed locally in Andalusia.^[6]
• Bergamot orange, C. aurantium subsp. bergamia is cultivated in Italy for the production of bergamot oil, a component of many brands of perfume and tea, especially Earl Grey tea.
• Chinotto, from the myrtle-leaved orange tree, C. aurantium var. myrtifolia, is used for the namesake Italian soda beverage. This is sometimes considered a separate species.
• Daidai, C. aurantium var. daidai, is used in Chinese medicine and Japanese New Year celebrations. The aromatic flowers are added to tea.^[7]
• Wild Florida sour orange is found near small streams in generally secluded and wooded parts of Florida and the Bahamas. It was introduced to the area from Spain.^[7]

Uses

In cooking

The unripe fruit, called narthangai, is commonly used in Southern Indian cuisine, especially in Tamil cuisine. It is pickled by cutting it into spirals and stuffing it with salt. The pickle is usually consumed with thayir sadam. The fresh fruit is also used frequently in pachadis. The juice from the ripe fruit is also used as a marinade for meat in Nicaraguan, Cuban, Dominican and Haitian cooking. The peel can be used in the production of bitters. In Mexico, it is a main ingredient of the cochinita pibil.

The Belgian Witbier (white beer) is made from wheat spiced with the peel of the bitter orange. The Finnish and Swedish use bitter orange peel in gingerbread (pepparkakor), some Christmas bread and in mämmi. It is also used in the Nordic mulled wine glögg. In Greece and Cyprus, the nerántzi or kitrómilon, respectively, is one of the most prized fruits used for spoon sweets, and the C. aurantium tree (nerantziá or kitromiliá) is a popular ornamental tree. In Iran, the juice is used as fish marinade. The blossoms are also used to flavor tea and jam.

As an herbal stimulant

The extract of bitter orange (and bitter orange peel) has been marketed as dietary supplement purported to act as a weight-loss aid and appetite suppressant. Bitter orange contains the tyramine metabolites N-methyltyramine, octopamine and synephrine,^[8] substances similar to epinephrine, which act on the α₁ adrenergic receptor to constrict blood vessels and increase blood pressure and heart rate.^[9][10] There is no evidence that bitter orange is effective in promoting weight loss.^[2]

Following bans on the herbal stimulant ephedra in the U.S., Canada, and elsewhere, bitter orange has been substituted into "ephedra-free" herbal weight-loss products by dietary supplement manufacturers.^[11] Like most dietary supplement ingredients, bitter orange has not undergone formal safety testing, but it is believed to cause the same spectrum of adverse events as ephedra.^[12] Case reports have linked bitter orange supplements to strokes,^[13][14] angina,^[8] and ischemic colitis.^[15] The U.S. National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine found that "there is currently little evidence that bitter orange is safer to use than ephedra."^[3] Bitter orange may have serious drug interactions with drugs such as statins in a similar way to grapefruit.^[16]

Following an incident in which a healthy young man suffered a myocardial infarction (heart attack) linked to bitter orange, a case study found that dietary supplement manufacturers who replaced ephedra with its analogs from "bitter orange" had in effect found a loophole in the ephedra ban, substituting a similarly dangerous substance while labeling the products as "ephedra-free".^[17]

Other uses

This orange is used as a rootstock in groves of sweet orange.^[7] The fruit and leaves make lather and can be used as soap.^[7] The hard white or light yellow wood is used in woodworking and made into baseball bats in Cuba.^[7]

See also

• Neroli
• Orange flower water
• Grand Marnier

References

External links

• Bitter Orange: Information from the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine
• Bitter Orange List of Chemicals (Dr. Duke's Databases)

Citrus Important species Citron Key lime Persian lime Mandarin orange Pomelo Important cultivars Bitter orange Clementine Grapefruit Lemon Lime Orange Rangpur Tangelo Tangerine Naartjie Other topics Citrus production List of citrus diseases Orangery Book:Citrus Category:Citrus