At the insistence of the 24 year old grandson, the Guglielmi family has re-started harvesting their prized orange blossoms two generations after the family patriarch was forced to shut down the operation in order. Now Pietro and family are producing what Slow Food has dubbed a Ligurian delicacy: Bitter Orange Blossom Water.
Category
🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:30The flower means everything to us here, for the company, for the work, for the income, for everything.
00:45We are the only ones at home who cultivate it, who do it.
01:00We are the only ones at home who cultivate it, who do it.
01:20Who knows from whom my grandfather got that intuition, who knows from whom.
01:26Because here we are close to France.
01:29Maybe it was France that gave it the land, the position of the sea.
01:36All together they said, let's start doing this job.
01:41And like now, Pietro, he had the idea again to do this job here.
01:48We help him as much as we can and watch him go on like this.
01:56Imagine, there was all this valley full of orange flowers, where there were thousands and thousands of bitter oranges.
02:20In this period, when they were in bloom, the ships that passed in front of Bordighera smelled the scent of orange flowers.
02:27A great production that, thanks to the market that collapsed and unfortunately the frost that arrived, the plant disappeared.
02:39But now it's back.
02:42My family believes in it, I convinced them.
02:46Now I'm waiting for some people in the village to convince me to increase the production.
02:52Because a good market has opened up and I have more requests than products.
03:02The harvest lasts about a month.
03:06We have to wait for the flowers to open.
03:09For now, my family still helps me.
03:14They help me with the harvest.
03:18We are a family business.
03:21My husband always said, through the petals, that there are little dots.
03:41He said, from there you can see the essence.
03:44If there are many dots, there is a lot of essence.
03:47If the dots are few, there is little.
03:50By distilling this flower, you get a very precious essence.
03:55And with water, because when you distill, both the water and the essential oil come out.
04:02The water is used for the preparation of sweets.
04:06The water was given everywhere.
04:09He had a stomach ache, he was given a teaspoon of citrus.
04:16Come on, grandma.
04:18Whatever you drink, a little lemon balm.
04:22Stomach ache?
04:24Lemon balm.
04:25Headache?
04:26Lemon balm.
04:28Some people correct it in coffee.
04:30A little drop that gives you a pleasant taste.
04:34And if not, on the lies.
04:37The maximum is on sweets.
04:40Lemon balm.
04:43Everywhere we put lemon balm.
05:07It is a nostalgic product.
05:10And it is a modern product.
05:13For my grandmother and her friends, it is a nostalgic product.
05:18But it made her happy to feel the emotion of the harvest.
05:24Because it made her go back 40-50 years ago.
05:29And it's a new product that's gone, but it's coming back.
05:34It comes back better, it comes back more delicate, more innovative.
05:4022.
05:5923.
06:21Once the flowers have been harvested, I put them in a container.
06:24At the base of this container, I let the steam enter.
06:27The steam extracts all the properties of the oil.
06:30Once the steam has cooled down, it enters a Florentine vase
06:34that is used to separate the water from the oil.
06:37So, as we distill, we'll see the water coming out
06:40and the essential oil remaining hot.
06:42After the distillation, I separate it with special oil pipes.
06:5424.
07:24When you close your eyes, you feel the shades of jasmine, honey, orange flowers.
07:29We have scented notes that make you travel with your mind.
07:34It's all a set that would be the essence of the flower
07:40contained in a bottle.
07:44He believes in us. He believes in us.
07:48Because he goes from one place to another.
07:51He has the courage to go.