Vallebona’s Bitter Orange Blossom Water
In the past, distillation was carried out in copper stills, putting the blossoms in direct contact with boiling water. Today, the process is more delicate, and it is carried out in a steam stream: the steam is fed into the base of the extraction container and it flows upwards, passing through the mass of blossoms, until it reaches a pipe that channels it into the “Florence flask”, a container in which the distillation takes place. In this particular glass still, in which the steam condenses passing into the liquid state, the water and the very precious essential oil are separated. The oil, also known as neroli, is very precious in cosmetics.
The water is mainly sold locally, and it is used in the kitchen, for the preparation of bugie and to flavor local desserts.
