Hello!
Over the last little while, a lot of you have been asking me about an essential oil that’a gaining popularity among local artisans as it’s finding it’s way into more and more of the locally made products. I’m referring to Bergamot essential oil, also called by it’s Latin name, Citrus Bergamia. While Bergamot is part of the Citrus family, it has a much more sweet, and fresh citrus aroma than some of it’s other family members.
The Bergamot fruit looks like a cross between a grapefruit and an orange, and similarly to other citrus fruits, it ripens from green to a yellow orange. The tree this fruit grows on, can grow up to about four meter tall, bearing smooth leaves and unique star shaped flowers.
This essential oil is named after the city of Bergamo in Lombardo, Italy, where it was first sold. While it originates from tropical Asia, it is most commonly grown in Italy.
The Italians have used Bergamot essential oil in folk medicine for many, many years, primarily to treat worms, fever and malaria. Around here however, you may have noticed that this essential oil tends to find it’s way into a lot of skin care products. Which is fantastic because, it’s considered a natural skin toner and detoxifier, which may prevent premature aging of the skin and shows promises in being beneficial for those with oily skin.
Precautions: Avoid UV rays for at least 2 hours after topical application, and avoid old or oxidized oils.
While the above mentioned benefits are some of the wonderful uses for Bergamot essential oil, there are many more! For example, not only is this oil considered a natural skin toner and detoxifier, but it can also be used to treat insect bites and psoriasis. Bergamot essential oil has also shown to be very useful in treating bronchitis, and tonsillitis, as well as being an analgesic for sore muscles. The digestive system can stand to benefit from this oil when dealing with a loss of appetite, intestinal infection and even colic. Perhaps one of the greatest uses remains how well it works against infectious diseases as well as colds and flus.
*Is there an oil you’d like to learn more about? Let us know, and you just might find it as the topic for one of our next blog posts!*