Wednesday, February 8, 2017

Bergamot Orange

The bergamot orange is a hybrid of the sweet lime (citrus limetta) and bitter orange (citrus aurantium). It has a yellow skin and fruit similar to a lemon. Most bergamot oranges are grown in Reggio (southern tip of), Italy, southern France, Cote d' Ivoire, and southern Turkey. 
Bergamot orange
Extract from the skin is used to flavor Earl Grey tea and Turkish delight, and it is used to make marmalade. Essential oil obtained from the peel is used in a third of men's and half of women's perfumes. It can be used for juice and small scale production in Mauritius is used primarily for juice. 
The Meyer lemon is to the left and the Bergamot orange is to the right. 
I cut up a bergamot orange given to me by C. c. Claudia and a Meyer lemon from a tree in our yard and compared them. The Bergamot orange was sour like a lemon and a little bitter. The Meyer lemon was much more sour and tart, and juicier. 
Meyer lemon zest is to the left and Bergamot orange zest is to the right. 
A scraped some peel from both and the Bergamot was much more aromatic. The peel was a little bitter, while the Meyer lemon peel was not bitter at all. When I checked out the fruit I'd scraped the zest from about ten hours later, the Bergamot aroma was quite strong in the room and the Meyer lemon aroma was not even noticeable. 
Cara cara orange to the left, blood orange to the right, Meyer lemon at the bottom and Bergamot orange at the top. 

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