Orange Flower Water

In the nineteenth century orange flower water flavored many English desserts. It migrated in cake and custard recipes and in capillaire, a sugar syrup. Either orange flower water or rose water was a key ingredient in orgeat, originally a beverage and later a syrup used to sweeten other beverages. (In 1828 the cookbook writer Mary Randolph deemed orgeat a “necessary refreshment at all parties.”) Orange flower water also piques a boiled orange pudding found in How to Keep a Husband, or Culinary Tactics (1872), a cookbook from California.