CookEat Recipe
Orzata
Concentrated sweet almond syrup scented with orange-blossom water, for diluting into a cold drink.
Method
Steps
Step 1
Gather the ingredients: 200 g blanched sweet almonds; 600 ml water, divided into three 200 ml portions; 800 g caster sugar; 30 ml food-grade orange-blossom water.
Step 2
Use sweet edible almonds only. Grind them very finely, moistening gradually with the orange-blossom water, until a smooth fine paste forms. Do not use bitter almonds or fruit kernels.
Step 3
Mix the paste with the first 200 ml water. Squeeze thoroughly through a clean food-safe cloth into a bowl. Put the remaining almond pulp back into the grinder or mortar, grind again, mix with the second 200 ml water and squeeze again into the same bowl. Repeat once more with the last 200 ml water. The three extractions use the same original almonds; discard the exhausted pulp.
Step 4
Put all the extracted almond liquid in a heavy saucepan. Heat until very hot, then stir in the sugar. Bring to a gentle boil and cook for about 20 minutes, stirring frequently and watching carefully because it foams and can scorch. Lower the heat as necessary, keeping a gentle boil without browning.
Step 5
Transfer to clean small heatproof containers, cool promptly and refrigerate within 2 hours. Keep at 4°C or colder and use within 3 days, or freeze in suitable small containers with expansion space for longer storage. Thaw in the refrigerator. This is a refrigerated or frozen preparation, not a shelf-stable canned product. Discard the entire container if mould, fermentation or other spoilage appears; do not scrape it off or try to rescue it by boiling.
Step 6
To serve, stir a little syrup into cold water, starting with about 25–30 ml per glass and adjusting to taste. Shake or stir the cold syrup first if it has separated. The batch makes approximately 35 diluted drinks, depending on extraction and dilution.
Step 7
Melon-seed variation: use 200 g food-grade peeled sweet melon seed kernels instead of the almonds. This working weight adapts the source’s unquantified melon-seed option. Grind with the same 30 ml orange-blossom water, perform the same three 200 ml water extractions, then cook with the same 800 g sugar for about 20 minutes and cool, refrigerate or freeze as above. Use culinary seeds, not garden sowing seed, and discard any bitter or spoiled product.
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