Orange Blossom Water

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Orange Blossom Water

I was making a fruit salad this week and threw in a few dashes of orange blossom water when (gasp!) I realized I’ve never really highlighted it in depth here.  It’s such a beautiful ingredient, and now is truly my favorite time of year to work with it.  Orange blossom water goes incredibly well with fruits, summer fruits in particular, and gives summer pies or a simple fruit salad a hint of something truly special.

Orange blossom water comes from the blossoms of the Seville orange, a bitter and crazy fragrant orange native to Asia.  The petals of the flower are heated in water and the resulting steam is condensed and separated, now scented with the orange blossom.  The result is a clear liquid that is at once floral with orange citrus notes and a hint of bitterness.

Orange blossom water is found throughout the cooking of the Middle East, North Africa, French and Mediterranean where its delicate fragrance laces some of the most beloved desserts, savory dishes, and, in some instance, even drinking water.  It’s often added to a sugar syrup to drizzle over desserts or fruit, but it tastes beautiful used sparingly in tagines or other stews that have fruits.  I’ve used it a few times here, once as a gorgeous floral balance to melon in a gelato and another time in one of my favorite desserts, Om Ali, a puff pastry-based bread pudding. I definitely plan to experiment more with it in savoury dishes and have designs to add it to fall vegetable mashes like butternut squash or sweet potato.

Having a light hand helps when it comes to this ingredient – it gets overwhelmingly perfume-y in excess and be sure to taste your particular brand before following a recipe.  Your bottle may be stronger or weaker than what’s called for, and it’s better to use your cooking instincts and preferences here.  Orange blossom water is becoming more widely available by the day – in Whole Foods, gourmet stores, Italian specialty shops, and, of course, Middle Eastern grocers.

Melon-Orange Blossom Gelato

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Melon-Orange Blossom Gelato

Ice cream is somewhat of a problem for me.  You might find me on any given night at home, with a pint of mint chip or vanilla swiss almond on the couch circa 11 p.m.  Or walking in Soho, stopping at the Van Leeuwen truck for their earl grey.  Or at Cones grabbing some corn ice cream in the West Village.  Or inhaling mochi in single bites at Nobu.  Or…get the picture? In the winter, I crave the super creamy, bitter coffee flavors with chunks of chocolate, but the summer leads me to lighter, more subtle ones.  Therein lies the inspiration for a light-as-air, delicately-flavored, slightly floral melon-orange blossom gelato.

I’ve mentioned orange blossom water in a previous post, and it is a flavor that is found throughout Middle Eastern foods, particularly the desserts.  That said, it can be found in Mediterranean cuisine as well as French – it’s often used to flavor madeleines. The water is distilled from the blossoms of the sour orange tree, which is also known as the bitter orange or Seville orange tree.  Since it’s from the blossoms, the flavor is certainly more floral than fruity – quite exceptional, really.

Although I call this a gelato, it’s only because it’s lower in fat and lighter in texture than ice cream.  It’s truly a cross between a sorbet and a gelato because of the high water content of the melons.  It’s extraordinarily light – like a milky ice that melts when it hits your tongue spreading the soft melon flavor while the perfume of the orange blossom hits you at the end.  One thing I’d like to say about orange blossom water – each brand is very different.  The one I’m using now is a bit diluted, so, in this case (and, quite frankly, whenever a recipe calls for it), add a bit less and check for flavoring before adding more.  The flavor can be a bit cloying in excess.  Enjoy!

Ingredients

Yields approximately 2 quarts

1 ¾ cups heavy whipping cream

1 cup whole milk

½ tsp kosher salt

¼ cup sugar

¼ cup honey

2 tbsps orange blossom water

½ tsp orange zest

1 medium melon (approx. 1 ¼ lbs), seeded and cut into small cubes

1 squeeze of fresh lemon juice

Procedure

Place cream and milk in a saucepan.  Add salt, sugar, honey, orange blossom water, and orange zest.  Bring mixture up to a boil.  Once it starts boiling, turn off the heat, cover, and let steep for 10 to 15 minutes.

Place cut melon and a squeeze of lemon juice in a blender, and blend on high for a few minutes until completely pureed.  Strain cream mixture into a container, add melon puree, and refrigerate for at least 6 hours or even overnight.  You want the mixture to be the same temperature as the refrigerator or under 40° F.

Process ice cream in an ice cream maker per instructions.

If you don’t have an ice cream maker, place chilled mixture in a baking dish and place in the freezer.  After 40 minutes, take it out and stir it up with a whisk, or (best) a hand-mixture to incorporate air and until a uniform texture.  Place back in the freezer and repeat this every 30 minutes.  After about 2 ½ to 3 hours, the ice cream should be good to go.