We have a few orange trees here in pots- they are terribly unhealthy here- it is a little too windy and cold in the winter for them to survive well. They produce very little if any fruit (or flowers) and when they do produce anything, it is very sour (more so than a Seville orange). But I was rubbing the leaves in my hand today and the smell was that wonderfully mineral smell, tinged with orange flower and green woodiness and a strong almost bay leaf-like depth.
We were eating a very good local pecorino cheese that had been wrapped in walnut leaves last night, and today I am wondering whether orange leaf would be even better... or perhaps used to make a chocolate orange sorbet... hmm... I think some experiments are needed although I wonder whether it could end up being too bitter....
