CULTIVATING AND HARVESTING QUALITY ORANGE OIL

Oranges sweet are in the Rutaceae or "citrus" family along with grapefruit, lemons, and limes, among others.It is believed that oranges were first obtained from trees native to China; however, since then orange trees have propagated widely in other tropical and subtropical climates, including North and South America, Mexico, Portugal, Jamaica, Spain, France , Italy, Corsica, the Mediterranean region, Cyprus, Egypt, India, and Israel. Regular oranges, pigmented/"blood" oranges, navel oranges, and acid-free oranges are the 4 types of oranges in the citrus family.Each class has its distinctive characteristics.

The orange tree is evergreen with taupe bark and can reach a height of 4-7.5 m (13 ft - 25 ft).They may even reach 15 meters (50 feet) as they age.They have slender, angular branches with dark spines in the leaf axils.The branches eventually grow into circles, and the tree usually forms a hemisphere.The orange tree's glossy dark green leaves are oval and grow as small as 3-4 inches. Neroli flowers are small, white, fragrant, grown singly or in clusters of 2-6.The round fruit that grows from the ovary of the flower has a thick leathery rind that is green when immature and yellow-orange when ripe.Sometimes, in warmer climates, the peel stays green. At other times, it retains only green patches.The peel is dotted with tiny glands that contain the fruit's essential oils.Once harvested, oranges do not continue to ripen like many other fruits, which means proper care is needed to pick them from the tree at the right time for maximum essential oil production.Harvesting is done manually or mechanically, the latter process being more commonly used when the fruit is to be processed into juice or oil. Mechanized harvesting methods include the use of branch and tree shakers and air jets.

Orange fruits consist of a skin called the exocarp, which varies in color from yellow to orange when ripe.Beneath the peel, is a porous layer of white tissue called the mesocarp, which is spongy and odorless.It is also known as albedo or pith.The endocarp, better known as the fruit's pulp, is yellow, orange, and sometimes red.It consists of about 10-14 wedge-shaped sections called carpels, each covered with a transparent film. This membrane is used to hold the juicy pulp and the 2-4 seeds contained in each carpel.These segments can be split into separate slices.