Bitter orange, sour orange, Seville orange, bigarade orange, or marmalade orange is in a narrow sense the
citrus tree Citrus × aurantium[a] and its fruit. It is native to
Southeast Asia and has been spread by humans to many parts of the world.[3] It is probably a cross between the pomelo, Citrus maxima, and the mandarin orange, Citrus reticulata.
Citrus aurantium in the broadest sense
In some new systems, the species Citrus × aurantium includes not only the bitter orange proper (Citrus × aurantium), but also all other crosses between the pomelo (Citrus maxima) and the
wild mandarin (Citrus reticulata sensu stricto, other name: Citrus daoxianensis), i.e. mainly:
the
sweet orange (Citrus × aurantium Sweet Orange Group, other names: Citrus × aurantium var. sinensis, Citrus sinensis)
the
grapefruit (Citrus × aurantium Grapefruit Group, other names: Citrus × aurantium var. paradisi, Citrus paradisi)
and all cultivated
mandarins (Citrus × aurantium Mandarin Group and Tangerine Group and Satsuma Group etc., other names: Citrus × aurantium var. tangerina and var. deliciosa and var. nobilis and var. unshiu etc., Citrus × aurantium f. deliciosa, Citrus reticulata sensu lato [pro parte majore, i.e. excluding the wild mandarins]).[4][5][6]
The following text of this article only deals with the bitter orange proper.
History
The bitter orange spread from Southeast Asia via India and Iran to the Islamic world as early as 700 C.E.[7]
The bitter orange was introduced to Spain in the 10th century by the
Moors.[8][9]
Citrus × aurantium can be identified through its orange fruit with a distinctly bitter or sour taste. The tree has alternate simple leaves and thorns on its petiole.
Usage
Many varieties of bitter orange are used for their
essential oil, and are found in
perfume, used as a
flavoring or as a
solvent, and also for consumption. The Seville orange variety is used in the production of
marmalade and also used to make French bigarade.[10]
Bitter orange is also employed in
herbal medicine as a
stimulant and
appetite suppressant, due to its active ingredient,
synephrine.[11][12] Bitter orange
supplements have been linked to a number of serious side effects and deaths, and consumer groups advocate that people avoid using the fruit medically.[13][14] Whether bitter orange affects medical conditions of heart and cardiovascular organs, by itself or in formulae with other substances, is inconclusive.[15] Standard reference materials are released concerning the properties in bitter orange by the
National Institute of Standards and Technology for ground fruit, extract, and solid oral dosage form, along with those packaged together into one item.[16][17]
Citrus × aurantium var. myrtifolia is sometimes considered a separate species, Citrus myrtifolia, the myrtle-leaved orange. The '
Chinotto' cultivar is used to make the Italian soda beverage also called
Chinotto.[18]
Citrus × aurantium subsp. currassuviencis, laraha, grows on the
Caribbean island of Curaçao. The dried peels are used in the creation of Curaçao liqueur.
Related species
Citrus bergamia, the
Bergamot orange, is probably a bitter orange and
limetta hybrid; it is cultivated in Italy for the production of bergamot oil, a component of many brands of
perfume and tea, especially
Earl Grey tea.[19]
Cooking
While the raw pulp is not edible,[20] bitter orange is widely used in cooking.
The Seville orange (the usual name in this context) is prized for making British orange
marmalade, being higher in
pectin than the
sweet orange, and therefore giving a better set and a higher yield. Once a year, oranges of this variety are collected from trees in
Seville and shipped to
Britain to be used in marmalade.[21] However, the fruit is rarely consumed locally in
Andalusia.[22] This reflects the historic
Atlantic trading relationship with Portugal and Spain; the earliest recipe for 'marmelat of oranges' dates from 1677.[23][page needed]
Bitter orange—bigarade—was used in all early recipes for duck à l'orange, originally called canard à la bigarade.[24]
It is also used in
compotes and for orange-flavored liqueurs. The peel can be used in the production of
bitters. The unripe fruit, called narthangai, is commonly used in
Southern Indian cuisine, especially in
Tamil cuisine. It is
pickled by cutting it into spirals or small wedges and stuffing it with salt. The pickle is usually consumed with
yoghurt rice called thayir sadam. The fresh fruit is also used frequently in pachadis.
The Belgian Witbier (white
beer) is often spiced with the peel of the bitter orange.
In Finland and Sweden, bitter orange peel is used in dried, ground form (called pomeranssi in Finnish, pomerans in Swedish) in
gingerbread (pepparkakor), some Christmas bread, and mämmi. In Denmark, the candied peel (Danish pomeransskal) is used in various desserts and cakes like Christmas Cake (julekage) and Brown Cake (brunekager). It is also used in the Nordic glögi.
In
Greece and
Cyprus, the nerántzi or κιτρομηλο, 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
Albania as well, nerënxa or portokalli i hidhur is used commonly in spoon sweets.
In
Malta, bitter oranges are known as larinġ tal-bakkaljaw, and are used for marmalade and as root-stock for other citrus trees. [25][26] The Maltese soft drink
Kinnie is also made from bitter oranges.
In
Turkey, juice of the ripe fruits can be used as salad dressing, especially in
Çukurova region. However, in Iraqi cuisine, a bitter orange or raranj in Iraqi is used to complement dishes such as charred fish (samak or simach maskouf, tomato stew morgat tamata, qeema, a dish that has the same ingredients as an Iraqi tomato stew with the addition of minced meat, boiled chickpeas lablabi, salads, as a dressing, and on essentially any dish one might desire to accompany bitter orange. Iraqis also consume it as a citrus fruit or juice it to make bitter orange juice 'aseer raranj. Throughout
Iran (where the fruit is commonly known as narenj), the juice is popularly used as a salad dressing, souring agent in stews and pickles or as a
marinade. The blossoms are collected fresh to make a prized sweet-smelling aromatic jam (bitter orange blossom jam, morabba bahar-narenj), or added to brewing tea.
In
the Americas, the juice from the ripe fruit is used as a
marinade for meat in
Nicaraguan,
Cuban,
Dominican, and
Haitian cooking, as it is in
Peruvianceviche. In Yucatán (Mexico), it is a main ingredient of the cochinita pibil. In Cuba, a traditional Christmas time dessert is made with the peel of the bitter orange cooked in syrup and eaten with cheese and buñuelos. In
Suriname, its juice is also used in the well-known dish
pom.
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.[31] 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 (harmful side effects) as ephedra.[32] The U.S.
National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health found, "currently little evidence [shows] that bitter orange is safer to use than ephedra."[12]
Case reports have linked bitter orange supplements to
strokes,[33][34]angina,[27] and
ischemic colitis.[35] Following an incident in which a healthy young man suffered a
heart attack linked to bitter orange, a case study found that dietary supplement manufacturers had replaced ephedra with its analogs from bitter orange.[36]
Drug interactions
Bitter orange may have serious
interactions with drugs such as
statins (to lower cholesterol),
nifedipines (to lower blood pressure), some anti-anxiety drugs, some antihistamines, etc., in a similar way to grapefruit (see
grapefruit–drug interactions).[37]
Other uses
This orange is used as a
rootstock in groves of sweet orange.[3] The fruit and leaves make
lather and can be used as
soap.[3] The hard, white or light-yellow
wood is used in
woodworking and made into
baseball bats in Cuba.[3]
Notes
^The multiplication sign ⟨
×⟩ denotes a hybrid of two species.
^Talon, M.; Caruso, M.; Gmitter, F.G. (2020). The Genus Citrus. Elsevier Science.
ISBN978-0-12-812217-4. p. 69-70
^David J. Mabberley. A classification for edible citrus: an update, with a note on Murraya (Rutaceae). Journal of Plant Systematics. Volume 25: 271–284. Publication date: 6 September 2022.
^Andrew M. Watson, Agricultural Innovation in the Early Islamic World: The Diffusion of Crops and Farming Techniques 700-1100 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983), 81.
^Morton, Julia (1987). Fruits of warm climates. Miami: Morton, J. 1987. Sour Orange. p. 130–133. In: Fruits of warm climates. Julia F. Morton, Miami, FL. pp. 130–133.
ISBN0-9610184-1-0.
^Turgeon, Charlotte Snyder. The new Larousse gastronomique: the encyclopedia of food, wine & cookery.
^Sharpe PA, Granner ML, Conway JM, Ainsworth BE, Dobre M (December 2006). "Availability of weight-loss supplements: Results of an audit of retail outlets in a southeastern city". Journal of the American Dietetic Association. 106 (12): 2045–51.
doi:
10.1016/j.jada.2006.09.014.
PMID17126636.
^Sources are claimed to be the Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database 2007 and Consumers Union's medical and research consultants on the latter’s website.
"Dietary supplements to avoid: Hazardous ingredients". Consumers Union of U.S., Inc. January 2008. Archived from
the original on 2009-05-31. Retrieved 2017-10-08.
^Little, Elbert L. (1994) [1980]. The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Trees: Western Region (Chanticleer Press ed.). Knopf. p. 510.
ISBN0394507614.
^Hess AM, Sullivan DL (March 2005). "Potential for toxicity with use of bitter orange extract and guarana for weight loss". The Annals of Pharmacotherapy. 39 (3): 574–5.
doi:
10.1345/aph.1E249.
PMID15657116.
S2CID28294405.