Sweet Orange

Overview. Sweet orange peel is the fresh outer rind of the ripe fruit of the sweet orange tree, a small evergreen cultivated widely across warm temperate and subtropical regions, originally from Southeast Asia and now grown throughout the Mediterranean, the Americas, and elsewhere. In nineteenth century eclectic and regular practice the fresh peel was distilled into an aromatic tincture and syrup, valued less as a primary remedy and more as a gentle carminative and an elegant, pleasant-tasting vehicle for other medicines. It sits in the broader citrus peel tradition alongside bitter orange peel, but is milder and sweeter, prized for palatability rather than strong bitter action.

Clinical Notes. Sweet orange peel earns its place in the dispensary less as a stand-alone remedy and more as a flavoring and carminative adjunct. The tincture or syrup is added to mixtures for children or for patients with a poor appetite for medicine, both to improve palatability and to lend a mild aromatic-bitter stimulus to digestion.

Therapy. Sweet Orange Peel . Slightly stimulant, carminative, and tonic. Used almost wholly as a flavoring agent. It makes an elegant addition to acid solution of iron dispensed in syrup. It is also an agreeable addition to the bitter infusions, as of quassia or Peruvian bark.

primary-actions. Sweet Orange acts primarily as: Carminative, Digestive, Mild antispasmodic, Venotonic (hesperidin), Anti-inflammatory, Antioxidant, Uplifting nervine (oil), Expectorant (peel). Secondary actions include Regulate and harmonize digestion, Move and transform damp-phlegm (peel), Tone the vasculature, Lift and calm the mood (oil).