Orgeat syrup
Sweet syrup
A bottle of Italian orgeat syrup
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Type | Syrup |
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Flavour | Almond |
Ingredients | Almonds, sugar, and rose water or orange flower water |
Variants | Horchata |
Related products | Falernum |
Orgeat syrup is a sweet syrup made from almonds , sugar , and rose water or orange flower water . It was originally made with a barley -almond blend. It has a pronounced almond taste and is used to flavor many cocktails . Orgeat syrup is an important ingredient in the Mai Tai and many Tiki drinks . [1] [2] [3]
History
An early recipe for orgeat can be found in The English and Australian Cookery Book : [4]
Take a pound and a quarter of bitter almonds, and half a pound of sweet almonds, which have been blanched, nine pounds of loaf sugar, six pints of water, and the rinds of three lemons. Pound the almonds in a mortar with the sugar, and add the water a little by degrees; then put the mixture on the fire with the lemon-peel. After a boil pour off the syrup and press the almonds, to extract the milk; add this to the syrup, and strain the whole through a sieve. When cold add a little orange flower water, and bottle the mixture. The orgeat is used as a summer drink, mixed with water, according to taste.
Bitter almonds as a general rule contain cyanide and can be lethal in large quantities. [5] For this reason modern syrups generally are produced only from sweet almonds. Such syrup products do not contain significant levels of hydrocyanic acid , so are generally considered safe for human consumption unless the person is allergic. [6]
Word origin
The word orgeat ( / ɔːr ˈ ʒ ɑː , ˈ ɔːr dʒ i ə t , ˈ ɔːr ʒ ɒ t / ) is derived from the Latin hordeaceus 'made with barley ' through the French , where barley is called orge . The Catalan word orxata , from which derives the Spanish horchata , has the same origin, though today the two drinks have little else in common and neither of them uses barley.
Regional uses
In Tunisia and Libya , a variant is called rozata and is usually served chilled in wedding and engagement parties as a symbol of joy and purity because of its white colour and its fresh (flowery) flavor. It comes in many different flavours, such as traditional almond , banana , mango , pistachio , among others.
In Suriname , there is a drink called orgeade , which is a similar syrup made of sugar and sweet and bitter almonds.
Maltese ruġġata is made of almond and vanilla essence and may include cinnamon and cloves . [7]
In Cyprus and on the Greek islands of Chios and Nisyros , a similar syrup is known as soumádha ( Greek : σουμάδα ). Soumada has a very ancient history at least in Cyprus, stretching back into the Roman period, and it was given as an exotic delicacy by King Peter I of Cyprus to King Casimir the Great of Poland at the Congress of Kraków , held in Poland in 1364. [8]
See also
- Horchata , a related Valencian drink
- Falernum syrup
- Fassionola syrup
- Drink mixers
- List of syrups
- Tiki drinks
References
- ↑ "In honor of orgeat" . alcoholprofessor.com . Retrieved 11 March 2019 .
- ↑ "Upgrade your orgeat" . nationalpost.com . Retrieved 11 March 2019 .
- ↑ "Tiki cocktail history basics" . drinks.seriouseats.com . Retrieved 11 March 2019 .
- ↑ Abbott, Edward (1864). [h://archive.org/details/b21505524 The English and Australian Cookery Book ].
- ↑ "What are bitter almonds" . thespruceeats.com . Retrieved 11 March 2019 .
- ↑ Chaouali N, Gana I, Dorra A, Khelifi F, Nouioui A, Masri W, Belwaer I, Ghorbel H, Hedhili A (2013). "Potential Toxic Levels of Cyanide in Almonds (Prunus amygdalus), Apricot Kernels (Prunus armeniaca), and Almond Syrup" . ISRN Toxicol . 2013 (19 September): 610648. doi : 10.1155/2013/610648 . PMC 3793392 . PMID 24171123 .
- ↑ Georgina Lawrence. "Ruġġata tal-lewż" . ILoveFood.com.mt . Retrieved 20 March 2012 .
- ↑ Maria Dembinska and William Woys Weaver, Food and Drink in Medieval Poland (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999) p.41
External links
- Media related to Orgeat syrup at Wikimedia Commons