Discover the world’s finest citrus fruits, from our partner producer Simone Gatto.
For Astier Demarest, the sourcing stage is the most important in the development of our supply chains. Our credo is to work with the best to extract the best. In this quest for quality, more than 20 years ago we forged a partnership with the family business Simone Gatto, founded in 1926 in Méssine, Italy.
Today, Simone Gatto is a leader in the production of high-quality, 100% pure and natural essential oils, derived from fruit grown in Sicily and Calabria.
A beautiful story built around shared values and the beautiful products of Bergamot, Mandarin and Lemon.
FOCUS ON THESE THREE PRODUCTS
Bergamot
In France, bergamot isn’t exactly a fixture on our market stalls. And for good reason: this little-known citrus fruit is the treasure of Calabria. Resembling a lemon in its yellow color and shaped like a slightly deformed orange, the bergamot is not eaten as an ordinary fruit. It is produced and used for its incredible fragrance or its juice.
Harvested from November to March, bergamots are the most fragile of all citrus fruits, due to their low resistance to heat. As a result, the analytical quality of Simone Gatto’s new harvest is very different from the old ones, since this summer, Calabria reached heat peaks of up to 45°C.
Bergamot essential oil is obtained using a machine called BOE (Brown Oil Extractor). The fruit is sprayed with water and pricked to extract the essential oil. Carried along by the water, the oil is then separated by centrifuge. The fruit is then directed to other machines for juice extraction. This prevents oil loss during the juice extraction process and optimizes fruit yield.
Bergamot has long been used in perfumery, cosmetics and food. Its fragrance is sweet and sparkling, and bergamot blends perfectly with floral or chypre scents. It is also found in certain oriental perfumes.
Mandarin
Simone Gatto produces three qualities of mandarin: green, yellow and red. The green and yellow are harvested between September and December, when the mandarin is still unripe, while the red is harvested from December to March.
The color and scent of these qualities differ according to the ripeness of the fruit when the essence is extracted, and therefore the harvesting period.
Green mandarins are light to dark green in color. It is naturally the least ripe, so its scent is slightly more acidic and zesty.
Yellow mandarins range in color from light to dark yellow, while red mandarins, the ripest, are reddish to dark red, with a sweeter, more gourmand and fruity fragrance.
Lemon
Lemon is a citrus fruit renowned for its fresh, acidic scent. It grows abundantly all year round on a semi-evergreen shrub, the lemon tree. The essential oil of the lemon is accumulated in the multitude of small secretory pockets embedded in the skin of the pericarp. Even light pressure releases a pleasant fruity, lemony fragrance. The same principle is applied to extract the essential oil: the pericarp is cold-pressed. The resulting fragrance is citrusy and sweet, characteristic of citrus fruit. Simone Gatto harvests the ripe fruit by hand, from November to the end of April.
Simone Gatto lemon essential oil is obtained using a machine called the Sfumatrice. This machine, of Sicilian origin, extracts the essential oil by simply pressing the peel. The bark, drained of its juice, is pressed against the fixed walls of a cylinder to burst its glands. The released essential oil is carried away by water jets, then separated from the water by centrifugation. This technique preserves the characteristics and bouquet of this essence, much sought-after in perfumery.
All our citrus essential oils are available in conventional and organic varieties.
At Astier Demarest, we offer several qualities of Bergamot, Mandarin and Lemon essential oils.For more information on these products, please contact our sales department: contact@astierdemarest.com
