I know at least four other people who share my winter obsession with oranges — Cara caras and mandarins, if you want to get nosy. After the big comedown from the bounty of fruits and vegetables that is fall, the intensity of citrus and its invigorating smell have the power to revive on even the grayest days. This little bottle of liquid sunshine tops the list of “things that get me through to March.”

Orange flower water doesn’t really smell of orange but instead of the fruit’s blossoms, and maybe something akin to jasmine. Powerful at first whiff, the smell subsides within a few minutes when dabbed on the wrist, fleeting and fitting for something that was never meant to be in a bottle. Along with rose water, orange flower water shows up in many Middle Eastern dishes both sweet and savory.

A splash of this stuff can spruce up any number of foods and drinks. A half teaspoon whipped into a half a stick of butter seems to hold in stasis until it hits the hot crumbs of cornbread, the aroma of flowers mixing with that of sweet corn. Add it by the teaspoon to your favorite butter or sugar cookie recipe, breakfast pastry, or vanilla ice cream. I add a few drops to hot chocolate to breathe the smell. Hell, anything chocolate (milk or dark) benefits from this stuff, and it spikes whipped cream or frosting with a subtle orange aroma.

With a more balanced, less juniper-heavy gin, a dry martini never tasted better. Any drink involving egg white — including all sours — takes on an extra dimension with orange flower water, especially brown liquor like brandy or bourbon. The best days-of-yore drink, the Ramos Fizz, requires orange flower water to pull it together. In a shaker of ice, add 1 1/2 ounces of gin with 1 ounce each cream, lemon, and lime juice. Throw in a teaspoon of powdered sugar and one egg white along with a few drops of orange flower water. Shake like hell for a solid minute, then strain into a cocktail glass. Top with a finger of club soda. Where this once counted only as a drink you have on vacation, I say this drink IS a vacation.

Maggie Savarino Dutton is an industry veteran who has played bartender, sommelier and line cook and who now consults. She writes "Search & Distill," which appears every Wednesday in the Seattle Weekly, and maintains The Wine Offensive, her blog about wine, food, and anything else that might be discussed over the bar.

"Point of Purchase" photograph by Roadsidepictures via Flickr (Creative Commons), "Pantry" photograph by Áslaug Snorradóttir.