Flower-Scented Water
I might have mentioned flower-scented water in some of our desserts menu or you might caught a whiff of its unusual sweet fragrance in our dining room. I've promised to writing about it multiple times, and now, here it is.
At our restaurant/family, our commitment to culinary excellence resonates in the meticulous crafting of numerous dishes, among which is our traditional Royal Perfumed Water or Flower Scented Water —a vital element that enriches the essence of our diverse assortment of desserts and our daily life back home. Crafted in-house, the intricate infusion and sourcing of these fresh ingredients—flowers not commonly found in Canada—significantly contribute to the exclusivity and value of this aromatic creation. These ingredients form the foundation of our simplified version of scented water/perfume: pandan leaves, alyxia bark, kaffir lime peel, jasmine flowers, champak magnolia flowers, damask rose flowers, vallaris flowers, ylang-ylang flowers (Canaga tree’s flower), and Spanish cherry flowers.
Flower-scented water brand called “Nang Loi” or “นางลอย” is the first mass produce of its kind. The brand exists for centuries.
The flower-scented water/perfume or “Nam Ob” (“น้ำอบ” in Thai) holds significant place within Thailand's aristocratic circles. The art of crafting it has been handed down through generations for centuries. Back home, it serves multifaceted purposes: from imparting aroma to bathing water, enhancing the flavors of our food and desserts, to spritzing onto our clothing, or creating candles and infusing the scents into our everyday items, utensils, food, even fragrant weapons.
There are two types of these flower-scented water/perfume: the aforementioned, "Nam Ob" or “น้ำอบ”, and "Nam Prung." or “น้ำปรุง”. The first one is resembled to cologne, with a light, delicate scent that did not linger for long; it could be identified by the consistent addition of starch at the bottom of the bottle. These are the type we use for almost everything. The latter is more like a perfume, with a longer-lasting fragrance, adapted from Western perfume. Typically, the first process usually takes about an hour to complete, excluding preparation and packaging time. However, the latter method spans several months. This prolonged duration is attributed to soaking fresh flowers in water, requiring replace with new flowers daily for months, contributing to the lengthy process.
H.R.H. Princess Phuang Soi Sa-ang
A distinguished individual for crafting these exceptional items was H.R.H. Princess Phuang Soi Sa-ang, who, as the 77th daughter of King Rama IV, shared a half-sibling relationship with King Rama V. Residing within the inner-palace (woman only) of our Grand Palace on a capital island of Bangkok, she held a pivotal role as the head of the perfume department during King Rama V's reign.
To be honest, I'm not hesitant to tell you an intricate recipe. The process is extremely time-consuming and costly. I doubt any other restaurants would consider undertaking it.
To begin, place two pandan leaves and a handful of alyxia barks into a pot of water and let it boil for at least half an hour. Afterward, remove the pot from the heat source. Add half a handful of each of the specified flowers (jasmine, champak magnolia, damask rose, vallaris, ylang-ylang, and Spanish cherry), along with half a handful of kaffir lime peel. Cover the pot using a lid and allow the mixture to steep for another half an hour. Check if the flowers have begun to fade; if not, cover the pot again and continue to let it steep for awhile, repeating this process if necessary. Once completed, strain the liquid from the pot and store it for later use.
“At this point, I can opt to skip and use what I already have for immediate use in food, provided I don’t intend to preserve the water. Typically, I prefer preparing it in big batch, therefore additional steps are needed. Furthermore, at its current stage, the scented water lacks several ingredients, notably frankincense.”
Then infused a cups of marl with scented candle (how to make these candle is another story for another day).
The civet, a reclusive creature by nature, refrains from producing oil if it feels disturbed or unsettled.
Typically, I'd heat civet oil in a betel leaf cone, pandan leaf, or chloranthus leaf, depending on the desired expense level, respectively. However, the idea of telling Canadians that I use the oil from a perineal gland of a cat/weasel in your food is kind of off-putting, so I skip this process here. Nevertheless, usually, the "distilled" civet oil would be incorporated into the marl.
Add into the marl half a pinch of each: borneo camphor, dried ground pandan leaves, dried ground alyxia barks, sandalwood oil, and oils obtained from five distinct flowers (jasmine, rose, pandarus, ylang-ylang, and hyacinth), all of the same flowers mentioned previously (all dried and finely ground). Then add, the previously boiled flower water to the marl mixture.
A dessert in our collection that incorporates the flower-scented water, "Kai Mang Da." This delicacy features egg yolk drops immersed in boiling sugar syrup—a tale for another occasion. Serve on top of homemade coconut-vanilla ice cream.
Combine half a handful each of ground frankincense, dried ground kaffir lime peel, and finely ground raw sugarcane sugar. Take a pinch of this mixture and place it in an incense burner within an empty pot. Seal the pot with a lid and burn the mixture from the burner. Repeat this process multiple times to infuse the pot with the frankincense.
Next, put the flower-scented marl water into the pot. To expedite cooling, stir or lift the water and allow it to fall back into the pot. Place the burner inside the pot containing the flower-scented marl water, close the lid, and repeat this process several times. Finally, strain the finished product.
When using, avoid shaking. Allow the marl to settle. I put mine in spray bottle to “mist” as I have mentioned before in dessert menu.
Note: the infusion (scented candle burning) should be a minimum of three times. Traditionally, the palace would infused it eleven times, or any odd number (3, 5, 7, 9, 11), due to superstition. So, there's no need to fret. However, it's worth noting that the more repetitions, the stronger the scent will be.
