How to Make Orange Blossom Water (Neroli) at Home

Orange blossom water is the oldest product of the copper still that people still buy every week, and you can make it from any untreated orange tree in bloom. Steam-distill the fresh white blossoms and the water that comes over is the real thing, the fleur d'oranger of Middle Eastern pastry and French brasserie lemonade. The oil, called neroli, comes over too, at a whisper: 0.08 to 0.1 percent, which is why true neroli trades at $30 to $50 per millilitre.

The codex says it plainly: orange flower water is the primary product, with a 0.95 aromatic transfer. The oil is the aristocrat's bonus.

TL;DR

• Quick answer: steam-distill fresh orange blossoms the day they open; bottle the water, treasure any oil.
• The product: true orange blossom water for baking, drinks, and skin.
• The economics: neroli oil at 0.08 to 0.1% yield is why the water is the point.
• Any citrus in bloom works: orange is classic, lemon and grapefruit blossoms make their own beautiful waters.

Blossoms, and where Americans find them

The perfume tradition uses bitter orange, Citrus aurantium, but any healthy, unsprayed citrus gives glorious blossom water: backyard trees across Florida, Texas, Arizona, and California, and potted Meyer lemons everywhere else. Pick blossoms and fat buds in the cool of the morning, the day they open, and distill within hours. A mature tree drops far more bloom than it can set as fruit; you're distilling the surplus it was going to shed anyway.

What you'll need

• 300g fresh citrus blossoms and buds
• 2 litres of distilled or filtered water
• Ice and sterile glass bottles
• A copper still, the 5 Litre matches a backyard tree's bloom

Step by step

1. Pick in the morning; distill before lunch. Blossom aroma is a same-day affair.
2. Float the blossoms loosely above the water on the trivet.
3. Run the gentlest simmer of your repertoire; scorched blossom is unforgivable.
4. Collect 400 to 500ml and stop.
5. Bottle the water; settle and lift any golden neroli film with reverence.

A water with three lives

In the kitchen: a teaspoon perfumes baklava syrup, madeleines, fruit salads, and the classic Provençal lemonade. In the glass: a few drops make gin, sparkling water, and white sangria taste expensive. On skin: orange blossom water is the traditional gentle toner of the Mediterranean, kind to reactive skin and famous as a pillow mist for restless sleepers. If you make one culinary water all year, make this one; nothing else so small transforms so many recipes.

Frequently asked questions

Is my supermarket orange blossom water the same?

Often it's water plus synthetic aroma; the good imported brands are true distillates. Yours will be the freshest either way, and noticeably more alive than anything shipped.

Can I use blossoms from a sprayed tree?

No. Whatever landed on the tree rides the steam. Unsprayed or nothing.

What about petitgrain?

Distill the same tree's leaves and twigs and you get petitgrain, neroli's green-woody sibling and a fine consolation for trees that already finished blooming. Yields per material sit in the yield calculator.

One tree in bloom, one timeless bottle

Blossom runs belong to the 5 Litre still; orchard keepers with buckets of bloom want the 5 Gallon. Compare the tradition next door in our rose water guide, or see everything a copper still can make.