Name        Lime Essential Oil, Expressed, Mexico

Category  Essential Oils

Species    Citrus aurantifolia 

Part           Peel

Country    Mexico

Code        CitAuE1

Lime Essential Oil, Expressed, Mexico

Lime Essential Oil, Expressed, Mexico, (Citrus aurantifolia), is divided into two categories, expressed and steam distilled.  There is the Sour Lime, which is also called Mexican Lime and West Indian Lime, obtained from Citrus Aurantifolia.  There is a sweet lime that also comes from another variety of Citrus Aurantifolia.  There is still yet another variety of lime called Citrus Limette and is sold primarily in the French market as Limette Oil.  These trees reach their fruit-bearing peak after 10 years.  Distilled lime oil is clean and has a typical citrus fruity-fresh aroma.  Like citrus oils in general, it is reminiscent of the corresponding fresh fruit.  The lasting notes resemble orange and actually finish sweet.  However there is very strong terpene aroma in distilled lime oil.  For this reason perfumers prefer expressed Lime oil.  Expressed lime oils are more expensive than those steam distilled because of the difficulty in pressing the raw material.  Furthermore there tend to be differences in aroma and color.  Pressed peels produce darker oil with sweeter notes and faint lemon nuances.  Expressed Lime is favored in Neroli blends and has great tenacity appreciated by frangrance professionals.  Both expressed and distilled lime oils naturally contain varying quantities of limonene, pinene, dipentene, citral, and C8, C9 and C10 aldehydes.