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Bitter Orange

Bitter Orange is a fruit with 27 known flavor compounds. The most distinctive molecule is (e,e)-2,4-decadienal. It pairs most strongly with calamus, sharing 6 flavor compounds. Bitter Orange appears in 49 recipes, most commonly in indian cuisine.

Scientific name: Citrus × aurantium
species of plant, the bitter orange
Wikidata Q147096 (CC0)
Bitter Orange — ingredient reference image
27
Flavor Compounds
8
Top Pairings of 856 scored

Flavor Science

Flavor Profile Breakdown

27 compounds

How Bitter Orange's 27 known compounds break down by aroma category. Percentages are of compounds with a known label.

fruity 9 · 33.3%
green 7 · 25.9%
floral 5 · 18.5%
sour 3 · 11.1%
herbal 2 · 7.4%

Most Used In

Indian (1) European (1)

Flavor Compounds

11 of 27 are distinctive to bitter orange — they appear in under 10% of foods. The remainder are the background most foods share.

Ordered by measured impact in bitter orange — concentration against odour threshold where both are published, then by how distinctive the molecule is across the graph. Molecules measured here but not established as odorants sit below those that are.

Molecules volatile enough to reach the nose.
(e,e)-2,4-decadienal perillyl acetate acetal octyl acetate methyl anthranilate neryl acetate eucalyptol dodecanal linalyl acetate acetic acid 1-pentanol alpha-terpineol linalool 1-nonanol nonanal 1-octanol 1-hexanol acetaldehyde octanal hexanal formic acid heptanal geranyl acetate acetone dodecyl acetate citronellic acid neryl propionate

Best Pairings for Bitter Orange

Ranked by how often cooks actually use them together, across 453,403 recipes — the familiar answer first. Each pairing still carries its molecular score and shared-compound count; only the ORDER differs. Counts cover every characterised molecule the two ingredients have in common, not only the aroma-active ones, so they can exceed an ingredient’s aroma-compound count. For the chemistry-first view — where the surprising pairings live — see the molecular network below, the side-by-side comparison, or the Pairing Tool.

Molecular Neighborhood

Bitter Orange and its 10 closest compound-sharing relatives. Spoke thickness = shared compounds; circle size = that ingredient's own compound count. Drag to rearrange, scroll to zoom, click to open.

Molecular neighborhood diagram of bitter orange — top 10 ingredients ranked by shared volatile compounds
1
Calamus herb
6 shared compounds
23%
2
Mallard Duck meat
13 shared compounds
41%
3
Orange fruit
22 shared compounds
44%
4
Vermouth beverage alcoholic
23%
5
Cognac Brandy beverage alcoholic
7 shared compounds
29%
6
Irish Moss seafood
6 shared compounds
18%
7
Lemon fruit citrus
22 shared compounds
40%
8
Green Tea beverage caffeinated
15 shared compounds
16%

Compare Bitter Orange side-by-side

Bitter Orange vs Calamus Bitter Orange vs Mallard Duck Bitter Orange vs Orange Bitter Orange vs Vermouth Bitter Orange vs Cognac Brandy Bitter Orange vs Irish Moss

Recipes with Bitter Orange

View all →
Aperol® Spritz

Aperol® Spritz

water bitter orange orange
3 ingr. View →
Americano Cocktail

Americano Cocktail

bitter orange vermouth sugar +1
4 ingr. View →
LA Vida Mezcal

LA Vida Mezcal

vermouth bitter orange orange
3 ingr. View →
Chojin

Chojin

peppermint pork salt +3
6 ingr. · 5 steps View →
Orange Marmalade

Orange Marmalade

sugar sweet orange bitter orange +1
4 ingr. · 5 steps View →
Curacao

Curacao

water olive oil bitter orange +2
5 ingr. View →
Research basis

Bitter Orange is supported by 92 peer-reviewed papers

Drawn from PubMed + Europe PMC + food-science journals. Click any title to read the full abstract on the original source.
Show all 92 papers →