Citrus japonica

Citrus japonica is the kumquat — a small, oval citrus fruit native to southern China and widely cultivated in Japan. It is the only commonly eaten citrus where the peel is sweeter than the flesh: you bite through the thin, fragrant rind and hit sour juice underneath. This sweet-peel/sour-flesh inversion gives kumquat its particular character, both as a fruit and as a perfumery material.

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The essential oil is obtained by cold pressing the rind. The yield is low and the oil is not common in commercial perfumery, but it appears in niche and artisan work for its unusual sweetness profile — less sharp than lemon or bergamot, more candied, with a marmalade-like quality. The dominant molecule is limonene, as in most citrus oils, but the higher proportion of esters gives kumquat oil its sweeter, rounder character.

Kumquat reached Europe via the Mediterranean citrus trade in the mid-19th century (Robert Fortune brought specimens to London in 1846).

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