Bergamot essential oil from the water. The rinds of 100 bergamot oranges yield about of bergamot oil. Bergamot essential oil has been used in cosmetics, aromatherapy, and as a flavoring in food and beverages. Historically, bergamot essential oil was an important ingredient in Eau de Cologne, a perfume originally concocted by Johann Maria Farina at the beginning of the 18th century. The first record of bergamot oil used as a fragrance in perfume is from 1714, found in the Farina Archive in Cologne. The volatile oils of the bergamot orange are described as flavoring agents in the USP Food Chemicals Codex and are
Bergamot orange skin of guinea pigs was shown to have a concentration-dependent phototoxic effect of increasing redness after exposure to ultraviolet light (due to the chemical bergapten, and possibly also citropten, bergamottin, geranial, and neral). This is a property shared by many other citrus fruits. Bergapten has also been implicated as a potassium channel blocker; in one case study, a patient who consumed four litres of Earl Grey tea per day (which contains bergamot essential oil as a flavouring) suffered muscle cramps. Bergamot is also a source of bergamottin which, along with the chemically related compound 6',7'-dihydroxybergamottin, is believed to be responsible