The Leopold Bros Orange Blossom Cordial starts with individual double-distillations of  blood oranges and neroli—an orange blossom oil that has been produced for hundreds of years—which are blended together and sweetened with Belgian candi sugar to finish.

Neroli comes from the eponymous town near Rome, where the former Princess of Nerola, Anne Marie Orsini, fell in love with the scent of the local orange blossoms back in the 1600s. The princess soon discovered that the blossoms contained an essential oil that could be used as a perfume to scent her clothes as well as her baths. Her obsession with neroli became a lifestyle.

Princess Orsini wore the neroli scent so frequently that it became a sensation with the Italian aristocracy. The essential orange blossom oil was eventually christened after the town from which it hailed, and used for centuries to come in various perfumes, bath and beauty products, as well as flavoring agents.

Distilling the neroli separately from the blood oranges gives us greater control over the final blending, and the addition of Belgian candi sugar transforms the flavor of the Andalusian citrus into a confectionery tang. The resulting cordial balances that candied sweetness with the vibrancy of the citrus, and the delicacy of the orange blossom’s aroma—the same fragrance that captivated a princess all those centuries ago.