Petitgrain Essential Oil.
Petitgrain, Citrus aurantium ssp. amara
Petitgrain essential oil is obtained from several varieties of citrus trees. Whenever the Petitgrain is listed as the type of essential oil, the variety has to be noted. This oil can come from Lemon trees, Orange trees, and the various citrus types within these species. But the vast majority of Petitgrain oil comes from the Bitter Orange tree and most of the higher quality Petitgrain will be referred to as Petitgrain, Bigarade. In this discussion, we will be referring to the Bigarade type of Petitgrain oil and will hereafter be referenced simply as Petitgrain. This is the type you received in the R & D program. The Petitgrain EO is distilled from the leaves and small twigs of the Bitter Orange tree. Other oils that come from this tree are Neroli, which is obtained from steam distilling the blossoms and the Bitter Orange oil which is cold-pressed or expeller-pressed from the peel of the fruit. The Petitgrain EO can come from several countries, most any country that grows the Bitter Orange fruit. However, this one that we use is from Paraguay.
The Petitgrain EO is not really indicated for internal or ingestion type of applications. For the most part, this oil is used for topical applications and for emotional support uses, However, the oil does have a lot of anti-microbial and anti-bacterial properties, but these are of the topical or external types. Perhaps the one greatest value of this oil is that a person can use it much like you would any citrus oil and yet not have the phototoxic effects that normally come with almost all of the other citrus-based oils. Another interesting fact with this oil is that unlike most of the citrus oils it does not just contain a few elements. For example, the typical Orange oil or even a Lemon oil will be very high in one or two elements, then have just a few minor, low single-digit, percentage-wise, of other elements. So with Petitgrain EO, you have a few high percentage elements, a few mid-range percentage elements and a good number of low percentage elements. plus these all are from the various classes of types of oils, ie; Hydrocarbons, Alcohols, Aldehydes, Ketones, Esters, and others. In the first sentence, I mentioned that it is not indicated for internal use, however, it does help with issues such as constipation. This is utilized through the route of ease of stress and emotional as well as the typical routes of absorption.
One of the shining stars of this oil is how well it blends with other oils. For example, at one time I formulated a blend that would indicate for expectant mothers and as well as for post-delivery for both mother and child, and yes by extension to anyone else under stress. Petitgrain oil was one of the main oils used, and it made all the difference in the world. I asked my daughter Elisabeth to name the oil. After she worked with it she chose the name of Purr. I asked her what her rationale was for the name. Her reply was this, When I use it it makes me feel comfortable and calm, much like when you have your favorite cat snuggled up with you and it is Purring away. From my observations, this oil will do a much better job of blending with other oils in almost any blend where Orange oil is called for. It will work a lot smoother and will note support much better than any of the other Orange oils. This is a critical aspect of any emotional support blend. In doing emotional support blending you have to be very careful about leaving sharp spikes in the transition of one oil to another within the blend. This happens with the narrow element or narrow-spectrum component oils, such as the typical Orange oil. Petitgrain will not display those sharp spikes and will float from one oil to the other with much more smoothness. Maybe Leiann might consider using a sample of the Purr in one of the R & D oils in the upcoming months.
I want to add in a bonus aspect here. I would like to contrast this with the typical Orange oil that I mentioned. The sharp spikes are not all that bad, as they can be used to an advantage. In a discussion that I had a while back in regards to the type of Orange oil that we use, which is a high Aldehyde type. We like using this for a number of reasons. This oil will, because of being vastly different than saying this Petitgrain will. It works great because of its nature work really good with people using the Keto Diet program. Another aspect of this is that as indicated in medical aromatherapy studies, the high Aldehyde orange oil is indicated for people with Magnesium deficiency. Most of you will just roll your eyes and say, so what. The so what is huge, as in mega huge. Most people have a serious Magnesium deficiency issue. Plus what I have learned from years of experience in working with people, they almost all need Iodine. The Orange oil will work wonders for the people as well. Since a deficiency of Iodine, Magnesium, and other physical types are found in most people, the regular Orange oil from the fruit will take care of the physical issues and the leaves and twigs will take care of the emotional issues. Although they will both cross over the line of each other's primary domain, the use of both will cover the whole spectrum. This is where most people are missing the boat and by a lifetime is that the essential oil will work to make the other things you are doing work exponentially better. In this case, if you were to use the Petitgrain, you would get the benefit of the leaves, which are fantastically nutritious. But as humans, we don't eat them. But animals do and they end up self-medicating and they usually get better in short order. Then use regular Orange oil and you get the benefit from the peel, which we as humans don't eat, but animals do.. need I say more? Then go and eat an Orange. That way you will get the benefit of the fruit. So 3 routes to get the full benefit of the nutritious and healing Orange.
