Orange Flowers Orange flowers come from
the bitter or Seville orange, Citrus aurantium,
and they have been used for millennia to
flavor sweets and other dishes in the Middle
East, usually in the extract called orange-
flower water. The distinctive perfume results
from a mixture of terpenes also found in roses
and lavender, with an important contribution
from the same compound that flavors concord
grapes (methyl anthranilate).
Makrut or Kaffir Lime Ma krut is the Thai
name for the tree also known as kaffir lime
(“kaffir” is Arabic for “unbeliever” and has
derogatory connotations). This Southeast
Asian member of the citrus family, Citrus
hystrix, has distinctively aromatic leaves and
fruit rinds that are an important ingredient in
Thai and Laotian cooking, especially soups,
stews, and fish dishes. The rind has an
unremarkable mix of citrus, pine, and fresh
notes, but the tough leaves are richly endowed