Orange Blossom Fragrance
A greedy flower evoking orange blossom desserts. Fragile and light in appearance, it surprises with the power of its perfume.
Description
A mysterious origin
The orange blossom is the flower of the bigaradier, magical tree in perfumery, crossing the mandarin and grapefruit tree known in Arabia for more than 1000 years before spreading in the Mediterranean after its import by the Arabs in Spain. Tunisia is today the world’s leading producer of orange blossom.
The bigaradier is a tree more than 3 meters high. It provides 10 to 30 kg of flowers per year. Picking is done by hand during the months of March and April.
In the bigaradier as for other citrus fruits, the smell spreads everywhere and many extracts can be obtained: the absolute of orange blossom, the essential oil of orange from the bark of the fruit and the essential oil of small grain from the leaves.
A universal flower: from cosmetics to pastry
It is very popular in perfumery for its floral-solar smell that tends towards monoï, but also for its almond and powdery side.
It is used in many cosmetic products in association with jasmine or tuberose or with its natural companions: orange or grapefruit.
Its tender and powerful flavor is also found through the orange blossom water, from distillation, in many pastry specialties around the Mediterranean: the shuttles of Marseille, basboussa, a semolina cake with variants in Algeria, Turkey, Iran, Lebanon… but also gazelle horns or baklawas.