What is A Bergamot?
Bergamot is a citrus fruit, which is bitter, spicy and inedible, but the scent is more floral than other citrus fruits. It is sometimes called a bergamot orange, which is a little confusing because it is yellow and looks like a lemon! Bergamot is roughly the same size as an orange but is often pear-shaped. The bergamot orange is from a tree called citrus bergamia, grown in Calabria in Southern Italy, Africa's Ivory Coast and the south of France. A large amount of the world supply of Bergamot grows in Calabria in Italy. The tree blossoms in winter, and is happy in the microclimate of southern Italy in Calabria with its combination of rich mineral salt deposits, wet winters, and warm and humid summers. The skin of the fruit from the tree is cold pressed for its oils, flavours, scents, teas and even marmalade.
Uses Of Bergamot, Historically And Present Day
Historically, bergamot was mainly used in fragrances. Bergamot became very popular as a scent whilst the French perfume industry flourished in the 17th century. The traditional Eau de Cologne is heavily scented with bergamot, and nowadays, bergamot flavouring is used in food, in drinks such as Earl Grey, and it is used to scent perfumes, and in cosmetics such as skin creams, shower gels, bubble bath and essential oils. Bergamot, as an essential oil, is used extensively in aromatherapy, and also in scented candle form. Traditionally, it was used in medicines throughout Renaissance Europe, as it was believed at the time, to keep fever away. Wealthy people would often wear bergamot around their necks to hide the smell of their body odour!
Traditional Therapeutic Uses of Bergamot in Herbalism
For centuries, bergamot has been used in Ayurveda, traditional Chinese medicine and Italian folk medicine. Italians believed that bergamot could help the body get rid of stomach bugs and to cope with fever. Ayurvedic tradition believe that bergamot can help bring the body in the areas of appetite, digestion, mood and skin health. This may all be due to bergamot’s high polyphenol and antioxidant content. It may be due something unique to the bergamot fruit. Or perhaps it is yet unexplained by the science and we are still catching up.
Safety and Side Effects
Drinking, smelling or eating bergamot appears to be safe, although eating may be a very unpleasant experience! Hence, generally considered inedible. The US FDA considers bergamot essential oil to be “generally recognized as safe” as a food additive. When it comes to putting bergamot products on your skin, be careful, particularly if you’re going to be in the sun or on a tan bed. The International Fragrance Association limits bergamot content of leave-on skin products to 0.4%.
Potential Benefits To Your Health
These days, research scientists and wellness enthusiasts are discovering renewed interest in bergamot as new studies are coming out pointing to it having unusual properties.
Although bergamot has been in use for approximately 400 years, the science side has really opened up relatively recently.
Commercially, the extraction of the oil has been the primary focus of the recent past, as the oil is compact, has a long shelf-life and is easy to trade, but as it takes approximately 100 bergamot oranges to make 3 ounces of essential oil, research has started to look at the other components of the fruit, and as it turns out, the oil, the juice and the rind may all have beneficial compounds. For example, the oil is rich in terpenes, furocoumarins, bergapten and bergamottin, and the juice and whole fruit are high in flavonoids, naringin and hesperetin.
Mood - Bergamot has been used in aromatherapy for a long time, with the belief that it can support a balanced mood, and support your ability to stay calm during times of stress.
Cellular Health - Compounds in bergamot juice, bergamot oil, and whole bergamot all have potential to assist the human body’s anti-inflammatory response, and they are also rich in flavonoids and polyphenols, health-supporting antioxidants.
Pain - Bergamot has been studied as an aid to pain relief, and it may support hormone secretion which affects nerves’ sensitivity to pain.
Bacteria - Some research on bergamot indicates that it may be able to help fight off microbes, whereby the bergamot oil extract appears to affect enterococcus bacteria strains, leading to restricted cell growth or cell destruction.
Circulation - Initial research indicates that bergamot may support a healthy circulation system by supporting healthy lipid levels, healthy cholesterol levels and cellular health. Also, bergamot contains flavanones with statin properties.
Conclusion
As you can see, bergamot is much more than just a flavour or a scent. It may have a whole range of health benefits too, and it has an interesting history. At Unique Gifts AG, we have a range of products containing bergamot, and we invite you to browse our shop for something to reward yourself or someone else with.