ABSTRACT
In the 1960s bergamot juice was still the unique source of “natural” citric acid produced in Italy. It was produced from juice extracted from December through March. The juice has a high yield and high acidity, expressed as monohydrated citric acid, of about 3.5%. The industrial process also included the recovery from the previously fermented juice of about 2% of ethyl alcohol. That type of production of citric acid was then dismissed, due to the progressive introduction of the “biological” production of citric acid from the molasses of beets or of sugar cane, which are very good substrates for the citric fermentation.
