After nearly half a century since its closure, in 2004<\/strong> a young heir of the Guglielmi family in Vallebona<\/strong>, in the province of Imperia<\/strong>, reopened the historic distillery<\/strong>, reintroducing its Bitter<\/strong> Orange Flower Water<\/strong> and other oils and essences. The bitter orange many years ago found its ideal climate in the province of Imperia, in Vallebona, a sunny and sheltered valley. The harvesting period lasted about 20 days in May<\/strong> and relied mainly on the labor of women who also came from neighboring valleys and the coast. The art of distillation was challenged by the chemical industry<\/strong>, which was able to obtain artificial flavors and essences at very low prices. From<\/strong> about the 1950s<\/strong> onward, in fact, the tradition was gradually lost, as flower picking was no longer profitable. The winding road from the sea to the hillside in Vallebona was once full of terraces planted with orange groves, particularly bitter oranges, and today the Presidium’s goal is to bring those crops back. By involving local farmers, they hope to recover the wonderful agricultural landscape of yesteryear, breathing new life into an artisanal tradition<\/strong> and a product that has made the history of this valley<\/strong>. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The ancient tradition of distilling Bitter Orange Blossom Water in Vallebona, in the Imperia region of Italy, was abandoned in the 1960s and resumed in 2004, with the related cultivation of the plants. Today Bitter Orange Blossom Distilled Water is a Slow Food Presidium of Liguria. Do you know its fragrant history? We tell you…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":6596,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[581],"tags":[1258,1260,1259],"class_list":["post-7401","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ligurian-culture","tag-bitter-orange-blossom-water","tag-slow-food-presidium","tag-vallebona-imperia-en"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t
\nHe thus resumed the cultivation of bitter orange<\/strong>, replanting the plants on the land and managing to grow more than 150<\/strong> of them in just a few years<\/strong>, from which he extracts the distilled water, currently in very limited quantities.<\/p>\nBitter orange blossom water: the origins<\/h3>\n
\nThe economy of the area over time was based on its cultivation and the collection of flowers for distillation.
\nBitter orange blossom water, now a Slow Food Presidium of Liguria<\/strong>, was used in the preparation of bugie<\/strong>, a dessert that is typical here in the area for all festivals of the year, and was highly valued for its healing effect<\/strong>.<\/p>\nBitter orange flower water: harvesting and processing<\/h3>\n
\nThey picked the flowers of the bitter orange tree as soon as they opened in the early morning, then arranged them on cloth cloths and took them to distill before the heat came.<\/p>\nBitter Orange Blossom Water: the crisis and the closure of the historic distillery<\/h3>\n
\nAs a result, the historic distillery was forced to close, and the orange trees, no longer cared for, were decimated by the historic frosts of 69, 70, and 85.<\/p>\n