Petitgrain absolute

Crushed orange leaf, orange flower, green wood, slightly bitter. Rounder and sweeter than petitgrain oil, with more orange-flower and warm green.

Petitgrain absolute has no dedicated standard in the IFRA 51 index. It comes from leaves, not peel, so furocoumarin content is low; suppliers should confirm.

Linalool, limonene and geraniol are EU-labelled allergens above threshold. Store dark, sealed and cool.

The bitter orange tree (Citrus × aurantium) yields three groups of materials: peel for bitter orange oil, flowers for neroli and orange flower absolute, leaves and twigs for petitgrain. The name petitgrain means small grain, since the oil was once distilled from unripe fruit.

Paraguay is a major source of leaf oil, while France, Morocco and Egypt produce high-grade petitgrain bigarade. The absolute is made in small volumes where solvent-extraction equipment exists.

An absolute is made in two steps. The raw material is extracted with a non-polar solvent such as hexane to give a waxy concrete. The concrete is then washed with ethanol, chilled to precipitate waxes, filtered and freed of alcohol. What remains is the absolute.

The absolute keeps heavier components and some methyl anthranilate, so it is closer to orange flower than the oil. It sits between neroli and petitgrain: greener than neroli, sweeter than petitgrain.

In perfumery petitgrain absolute serves colognes, orange-flower accords, fougères and chypres. It pairs with bergamot, neroli, lavender and musks.

Being leaf-derived, it does not carry the notable phototoxicity of cold-pressed bitter orange peel oil.

Petitgrain absolute is usually a viscous greenish-brown liquid. On evaluation green wood comes first, followed by a lasting sweet orange-flower note. In soap and candles it gives a fresh cologne note that lasts longer than the oil. It is also used in classic colognes.