Bergamot substitutes

Earl Grey is black tea scented with bergamot oil, so it is the only supermarket item that contains genuine bergamot aroma. Steep it in the recipe's warm cream, milk, syrup or melted butter for 5 minutes and strain, or blitz the dry leaves with the sugar for a shortbread or a cake batter.

Best for

custards and ice cream, simple syrups, shortbread and cookies, glazes and icing

It brings tannin along with the bergamot, so the result tastes faintly of tea: pleasant in dessert, slightly drying if you steep longer than 5 minutes or use boiling liquid. Use a good bergamot-forward Earl Grey rather than a smoky blend, and never steep in an acidic mixture or the tannins turn harsh.

The workhorse fix. Bergamot smells like a lemon crossed with a bitter orange and a flower, so lemon zest supplies the sharp top note and orange zest supplies the rounder, sweeter body underneath.

Best for

cakes and cookies, curds and creams, marinades, cocktails

What you lose is the floral, faintly pine-like length that makes bergamot recognisable, so the result reads simply as bright citrus rather than as Earl Grey. Adding a tiny pinch of dried lavender, no more than a quarter teaspoon per batch, or a few drops of orange blossom water pushes it closer to that perfumed edge.

The genuine article in bottled form, sold in baking shops and online. Because it is the actual peel oil, the aroma is exact rather than approximate.

Best for

frostings and icings, syrups, custards, anything where flecks of zest would look wrong

Very easy to overdo. One drop too many and the dish tastes soapy and perfumed rather than citrusy, so add half of what you think, taste, then add more. It carries no acid and no bulk, so if the recipe relied on zest for texture there will be no visible specks.

The closest single fresh fruit you can buy in most places. A Meyer lemon is a lemon crossed with a mandarin, so it is less sharp than a standard lemon and slightly floral, which is the direction bergamot sits in.

Best for

curds, shortbread, sorbets, salad dressings

Softer and sweeter-smelling than bergamot, with none of its bitterness, so a Meyer lemon version of an Earl Grey cake tastes gentle and lemony rather than perfumed. A quarter teaspoon of grapefruit zest per lemon adds back some of the missing bitter edge.

Lime brings a slightly bitter, resinous perfume that lemon alone does not have, which makes this blend better than plain lemon for savoury uses and for drinks.

Best for

cocktails and infusions, seafood, sorbets, sugar syrups

Reads as noticeably more tropical and green than bergamot, so a gin infusion made this way tastes fresher and less like tea. Grate only the coloured layer: lime pith is aggressively bitter.

An unexpected but useful option because kaffir lime leaf shares the floral, high-perfumed quality that makes bergamot distinctive rather than just sour.

Best for

sorbets and granitas, custards and panna cotta, syrups, cocktails

Clearly Southeast Asian rather than Italian, so it will not pass as Earl Grey. Best where it can be infused and strained out, and best paired with a little lemon zest so the citrus still reads as citrus. Bruise or freeze and slice paper-thin, since the leaf itself is leathery.

In a recipe where bergamot is one of several flavours, such as a marinade or a fruit compote, dropping it costs you very little as long as you keep some citrus perfume in the dish.

Best for

marinades, compotes and jams, braises, savoury dishes

Do not leave it out of anything named after it. An Earl Grey ice cream, a bergamot curd or a bergamot marmalade has nothing left once the bergamot is gone, and in those cases Earl Grey tea or bergamot extract is the substitution that actually saves the recipe.