Homemade Orange Oil Recipe

This homemade orange oil extract can be prepared in just a few minutes, but you will have to wait several days before you’ll be able to use it. The alcohol needs some time to absorb the aromatic oils from the peel of the orange.

If you don’t want to wait, here’s our recommendation for the best orange oil that you can buy (this is also one of the few with an ‘A’ rating on Fakespot, meaning it’s not full of fake reviews as are many of the others).

This same method of making orange essential oil can also be used to make lemon or lime oil extract if you prefer those scents instead.

Orange oil is a great option for homemade natural deodorant if you want to give that a try too.

Orange Oil Recipe

Orange Oil Benefits

On inhalation, it helps fight against hypertension (moderate) and stimulates the immune system. There are two ways to inhale, either through the diffusion of steam (diffuser, over hot water bowl…), this is wet inhalation; or by dry inhalation, applying a few drops of sweet orange essential oil on a cloth or on the inside of the wrist in order to breathe the scent regularly. Be careful though not to expose these parts of the skin with applied oil to the sun.

The diffusion of orange essential oil, sometimes also called citrus sinensis oil into the air immediately provides a relaxing, soothing effect, ideal at the end of the day to gently relieve your tension. This relaxation creates an environment and feeling suitable to falling asleep and helps fight insomnia.

A little tip, during the holidays, you can spray in your home warm and natural scents that will delight your guests. And the orange essential oil is a perfect choice for that purpose, especially if you made it yourself  😉

Also, by adding a few drops in the bathtub water, you will get double benefit by enjoying the benefits directly on your skin, while calming your mind and strengthening your immunity by the effect of inhalation.

Orange essential oil, like all citrus fruits, is photosensitizing, so it is not recommended to expose yourself to the sun after skin application.

Its antioxidants help fight skin aging too. In addition, sweet orange essential oil has a positive action against excess sebum. So, you can add a few drops to the shampoo in order to get rid of dandruff and care for oily hair roots. You can do the same with a moisturizer to revitalize your skin, but be careful, always use in night cream to avoid sun exposure.

Orange essential oil thins and energizes blood circulation, which is perfect for reducing cellulite, water retention and heavy leg sensations.

Here is a recipe for a draining leg lotion, which is easy to make: mix 50 ml of aloe vera gel, 10 drops of sweet orange oil (see the homemade recipe below) and 5 drops of Italian helichrysum oil. — also called immortelle — and 10 ml of calophyll vegetable oil or simply olive oil and massage your legs with the tip of the fingers up to the groin.

Use Those Orange Peels

If you really want to preserve most of the nutrients, vitamins and especially vitamin C, you may want to use the cold pressing method or just make it at home with the recipe I have provided below.

Vitamin C is water soluble and that’s why we usually add some amount of water in the extraction jar. Vitamin C is also dissolved in alcohol but to a lesser degree.

Did you know?  Orange peels contain more than twice the vitamin C than the pulp/flesh of the fruit? The orange skin also has many other nutrients and vitamins in larger quantities than the juice. The same applies for lemon skin and most other citrus fruits too.

Most vitamins, including vitamin C are degraded or destroyed at high temperatures (vitamin C degrades at about 70 degrees celsius) and steam distillation needs at least 100 degrees. So, there will be almost no vitamin C in a steam distilled orange oil.

So, you may want to keep the peels when making your morning juice.

The skin of an orange can be used in many ways including:

• Make an orange peel tea
• Add them to your black tea
• Use them as a natural compost fertilizer for your pot plants
• Make candied orange peels
• Make some homemade orange marmalade,
• Prepare an orange oil at home as shown below

To make this orange essential oil at home we will use neutral vodka, some water, and orange peel skin. I have to mention that if you want to extract more flavor and aroma from the raw material, then more alcohol should be used.

The aromatic oil components are more soluble in alcohol than in water, so you can make changes to the ratio of water and vodka used. You can also skip the water, which will give you even more concentrated oil and better extraction.

Now, back to making our homemade orange essential oil.

How To Make Essential Oil From Orange Peels

There are a few options different ways you can make orange oil at home. I am providing instructions for the first option as it requires the least investment.

But you can try any of these methods and options if you think there is one that better fits your needs.

• Use alcohol or vodka – easiest option, but you will have to wait a week or more.
• You can also make an alcohol free essential oil extract with olive, nut or organic vegetable oil.
• You can add vinegar to make a homemade orange or lemon scented cleaner.
• If you feel adventurous you can buy an oil distillation equipment kit for even better results. If you make it right you could even sell your organic homemade essential oil and make a profit too.
• A pressure cooker with a safety valve can also be used to make your own essential oil from pretty much any plant matter (herbs, fruit peel, etc.). You will need flexible metal stainless steel hose and copper condenser coil along with an additional condensation container.
• Less common way is to extract the oils with a cold press machine, but this method is more suitable for cold pressing natural nut and seed oils.

Ingredients

• 3 1/2 ounces of vodka
• 1 1/2 ounces of water (can be reduced or skipped)
• Peels from a few large oranges*
• A mason jar or tiny mini glass jars which are perfect to showcase to friends or give away as a gift

*I often use the peels of 4 or 5 oranges. If you are not sure how much you need you can just use whatever amount of peels/oranges you have available and add enough peels to fill a mason jar or other glass container.

Instructions

Making homemade orange oil is actually easier than you might think. Below are some simple instructions to make this multi-use oil! Remember, you can change out the ingredients and use any citrus to create your own scent. I will be doing it with lemons next!

Wash + Dry Oranges

Be sure to thoroughly was the skins of your oranges, especially if they are not organic. You want to be sure all dirt and pesticides are removed. Dry thoroughly after washing.

Remove Skin

Remove the skin of your orange. Be sure you are only using the skin of the orange. Inside the skin there is the pith or albedo – which is the white part and you do not want to use this in your orange oil. If some exists on the peel, be sure to careful scrap it off.

You can do this over a few days and just have your family put their orange skins in a bowl throughout the week.

Let Dry

The orange peels should be allowed to dry for a few days to allow the orange oil extract become more concentrated.

Put In Jar

Once orange peels are dry, chop them into pieces and add them to a clean and sterile bottle or jar. Add vodka and water to jar until container is filled. Close jar tightly and shake for a minute or two. Place it in a cool dark locations for about one week.

You can find methods for sterilizing glass containers here, this is an important step to make sure your orange oil is as “clean” as it can be.

You will want to shake the jar for the first few days to ensure all the aromatic oils are distributed and extracted properly by the alcohol.

Remove Peels

After a week you can take the jar out of the storage location, remove the orange peels and filter the oil into a bottle. An airtight sealed bottle will be needed to ensure it stays fresh for as long as possible.

It can be refrigerated or kept at room temperature.

Homemade Orange Oil Without Alcohol

You can make your own homemade orange, lemon or other citrus oil without any alcohol as well.

Replace the vodka with an organic vegetable oil, preferably extra virgin olive oil. It will still extract much of the orange peels healthy nutrients and beneficial goodness without the harshness of the alcohol.

Though, keep in mind that olive oil and alcohol will extract different compounds at different rates, so your olive oil orange extract may be slightly milder compared to a vodka extract. Alcohol generally dissolves and extracts more nutrients than vegetable oil does.

So, have you tried making orange oil, or any citrus oil? How did it go?

Do you have any tips or tricks we should know about?

Please share them below!