process
Orange Flower Water
Citrus aurantium
Origin
A by-product of distilling the blossoms of the bitter orange tree, chiefly in Tunisia, Morocco, and the south of France around Grasse and Vallauris. The same distillation yields neroli oil, while the floral water is the aromatic remainder.
The smell
Fresh, clean, and softly floral, with a green bitterness that keeps it from cloying. It carries the cool whiteness of orange blossom petals just opened at dawn, a little soapy, a little honeyed at the edges. There is an innocence to it, like sun-warmed linen drying near a flowering tree.
Key quality
A delicate floral hydrosol prized for its fresh, clean lift in fine fragrance and in cooking.
Historical use
Named after Anna Maria Orsini, Princess of Nerola, who scented her gloves and bath with the blossom in the seventeenth century, orange flower water became a fashionable Georgian and Regency toilette staple. It has long flavoured Middle Eastern and Mediterranean pastries, and the London house of Floris has dressed it as a refined cologne ingredient since the eighteenth century.
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