Orange peel is the dried or fresh outer part of the pericarp of the ripe or nearly ripe fruits of Citrus aurantium belonging to the family Rutaceae. It is also known as orange cortex.
Orange trees are evergreen plants which grows upto a height of 7 to 8 metres. They are cultivated in the warmer and moist regions of Khasia Hills in Assam and Central India around Nagpur.
Orange peel is cultivated in India in the states of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, West Bengal and Kashmir. It is indigenous to India. The commercial cultivation is carried out in South Spain (Seville), Caribbean islands, U.S.A., Morocco and Sicily.
Grafting method is adopted for cultivation. It is also cultivated by sowing seeds and cutting. The ripened fruits are picked up by hands carefully such that the oil glands are not ruptured.
The juice collected from these fruits is used in the food industries whereas the peels are treated for collecting the oil. They are also dried and preserved for further use.
The orange peel is dark orange red in colour with aromatic odour and bitter taste. The outer surface of the orange peel is rough due to the presence of numerous oil glands in small pits.
Chemical constituents:
The chemicals which are present in the orange peel are volatile oil, hesperidin, iso-hesperidin, neohesperidin, vitamin C and pectin, out of which volatile oil is the main constituent. The substances which give bitter taste to the drug are glycosidal compounds like aurantiamarin and aurantimaric acid. The volatile oil contains limonene as major component and small percentage of aldehydes like citral and citronellal.
Uses of Bitter Orange Peel:
- Stomachic
- Aromatic
- Carminative
- Flavouring agent for oral liquid preparations in pharmaceuticals
- It is also used for the extraction of pectin
- Terpeneless orange peel is commercially used as a flavouring agent because of its strong odour and readily soluble nature.
