Orange blossom: the warm, sweet floral of the bitter orange

Where does orange blossom come from?

Orange blossom comes from the bitter orange tree, Citrus × aurantium, a cross between the pomelo and the wild mandarin, native to Southeast Asia. As Wikipedia's article on the bitter orange explains, its flowers are distilled to yield neroli oil and orange flower water. The blossoms are picked by hand from late April to early May, and Tunisia, Morocco and Egypt lead neroli production.

What does orange blossom smell like?

Orange blossom smells sweeter, warmer and more floral than neroli, which is honeyed, somewhat metallic and green. According to the article on neroli, the gap comes from extraction, not from the flower: neroli is steam-distilled, while orange blossom is obtained by solvent extraction or enfleurage. Distillation also leaves orange flower water, the fragrant by-product used in pastries from France to the Maghreb.

What does orange blossom do in a perfume?

Orange blossom sits in the florals family, and its history in perfume runs deep: Marie Antoinette's perfume, Sillage de la Reine, combined tuberose, orange blossom, sandalwood, jasmine, iris and cedar, according to the article on tuberose. Chemists also learned to evoke it. The Schiff base formed from methyl anthranilate and hydroxycitronellal, discovered in 1908, has an orange blossom and neroli character, and the entry on methyl anthranilate dates its first commercial use to Guerlain's L'Heure Bleue in 1912. Its leafy relative is petitgrain.

What should you know about orange blossom?

Don't confuse the absolute with orange flower water, a light aromatic water. In the Maghreb, orange blossom water was traditionally offered to guests to wash their hands before tea. On cosmetic labels, EU Regulation 2023/1545 groups bitter and sweet orange flower oils under Citrus Aurantium Flower Oil, to be listed above 0.001% in leave-on products. The class on extraction methods explains the difference between a distilled oil and an absolute.