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Orange-Peel for Flavouring
When orange-peel cannot be obtained for flavouring, a substitute may be prepared as follows. Mix one drachm of the essential oil of orange with a quarter of a pint of spirits of wine. Put the essence into small bottles, and cork closely. The flavour is not equal to that of the fresh fruit. Or, soak the thin rind of two or three fresh oranges in as much brandy or spirits of wine as will cover them for a week or ten days. Filter the liquid, bottle, and cork closely until wanted. If this essence is exposed to the air the flavour of it quickly evaporates. The best way to preserve orange-peel for flavouring is to rub the rind with lumps of sugar, and when the yellow part is all taken off, to crush the sugar to powder, and keep it closely covered.
Three ways to keep orange flavour on hand: a quick essence from bought oil, a slow infusion of fresh rind, and the sugar method the book rightly calls best. The last needs no alcohol and no equipment.
- The drachm and the quarter-pintIf a fluid drachm is meant, that is one-eighth of a fluid ounce, roughly 3.5 ml or about three-quarters of a teaspoon; the book does not say whether weight or measure is intended. A quarter of an imperial pint is 5 fl oz, about 142 ml. Either way the result is a concentrated essence.
- Spirits of wineThis means rectified spirit — plain, high-strength drinkable ethanol. Use a neutral grain spirit of 95 per cent or the highest proof vodka you can get. Never substitute methylated or denatured spirit, surgical spirit or isopropyl alcohol; all are poisonous and none belong near food.
- Essential oil of orangeBuy only oil sold as food grade or as a flavouring oil. Cosmetic and aromatherapy oils are not tested for consumption and may be diluted in carrier oils that will not dissolve in spirit.
- Rind, not pith"Thin rind" means the coloured zest only. Any white pith carried over turns the infusion bitter, and it is the coloured layer that holds the oil. Scrub the fruit first, and choose unwaxed oranges if you can.
- The sugar method is the hingeRubbing loaf sugar over the whole fruit until the yellow is gone draws the oil straight into the sugar — what is now called an oleo-saccharum. Ground and sealed in a jar, it keeps its scent far longer than an alcoholic essence and can go directly into cakes, custards and drinks.
- StorageThe warning about air is the practical point of the whole entry. Bottle essences in the smallest containers that will hold them, fill them nearly to the top, keep them dark and cool, and open them briefly.
- Yield and useThe oil-and-spirit version makes about 145 ml of concentrated essence. The book gives no dose; add sparingly and to taste. The rind-and-brandy infusion is the milder of the two.
A Victorian kitchen could not count on citrus year-round, and the flavour had to be captured while the fruit was in hand. Rubbing the peel with lump sugar was one domestic answer, and the same trick survives in bartending as oleo-saccharum, a base for punch. The alcoholic essences reflect a period when a household might make its own flavourings alongside the commercial extracts then coming onto the market — and the book's own verdict, that the oil-and-spirit essence is not equal to the fresh fruit, is a fair one. Note too the assumption of lump sugar, which is what the rubbing method requires.