Citrus fruits from Italy
Meeting our producers in Calabria and Sicily
January marks the peak of citrus fruit maturity and harvest season in southern Italy. Every year, we travel to Calabria and Sicily to meet our producers and partners and follow the harvesting and processing of the fruit used in our organic essential oils.
Organic bergamot harvesting in Calabria
We started our journey with our long-term suppliers of organic cold-expressed bergamot essential oil.
For more than 20 years, we've been working with small producers cultivating between 1 and 7 hectares of bergamot trees. The harvest takes place in January, when the fruits reach full maturity, and their skin takes on a beautiful yellow colour – a sign of optimal quality for essential oil extraction. This long-standing collaboration allows us to monitor each harvest and guarantee the origin and quality of the essential oils we offer.
A small unit specialising in organic bergamot
We also visited a small processing unit that specialises exclusively in organic bergamot.
This artisanal structure can process around 10 tonnes of fruit per day, compared to 100 tonnes for a medium-sized unit. After cold expression, each producer collects their own batch of organic bergamot essential oil to ensure perfect production traceability.
Organic mandarin producers in Sicily
Our journey continued with a visit to our organic mandarin producers who grow both fruit for consumption and for the manufacture of organic essential oils. They work with a specialised processor who ensures full tracking, from citrus fruit harvesting through to the marketing of the essential oil.
Red Mandarin – Organic
- Citrus reticulata blanco
- Expressed portion: Fresh epicarp
- Origin: Italy
- Harvest period: Oct–Nov
- Quality: 100% pure & natural
In November, the ripest fruits are used to make organic red mandarin essential oil.
Green mandarin – Organic
- Citrus x nobilis var. deliciosa
- Expressed portion: Fresh epicarp
- Origin: Brazil
- Harvest period: Feb–May
- Quality: 100% pure & natural
Organic green mandarin essential oil is produced from fruits harvested in October.
Bergamot – Organic
- Citrus bergamia
- Expressed portion: Fresh epicarp
- Origin: Italy
- Harvest period: Jan–Feb
- Quality: 100% pure & natural
Recognised Italian quality
The quality of organic green mandarin essential oil from Italy is noticeably different compared to some Brazilian productions, which are marketed as "green mandarin", but often derived from tangerine varieties.
How are citrus essential oils extracted?
Several cold expression processes are used depending on the variety of fruit, its ripeness, its size or the scale of the fruit juice market.
Pelatrice: Extraction by peel
In this technique, the skin of the citrus fruits is removed or "zested" in order to recover the aromatic compounds contained in the peel.
The Brown Oil Extractor
Fruit passes over a conveyor belt equipped with needles and a stream of water coming from the opposite direction. This action releases the essential oil from the citrus fruit skin.
Sfuma-Torchio
These pieces of equipment work like extruders. They produce a mixture of juice and essential oil that will then be separated in order to recover each fraction.
Inline extraction
These modern facilities are designed to extract juice and essential oil simultaneously in a single operation.
From raw essential oil to clarified essential oil
After cold expression, the essential oil is first separated from the water by centrifugation. It then goes through a clarification step to remove residual impurities. Finally, for citrus essential oils, a process called "dewaxing" removes the waxes naturally present in the peel to obtain an essential oil that is more stable, clearer and complies with quality requirements.
Discover our essential oils
From the harvesting of citrus fruits to cold expression and clarification, each of our professional-grade essential oils is the result of rigorous expertise and a fully-integrated supply chain.
Discover our Essential Oils