How To Make Orange Bitters
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Orange bitters have been used in cocktails long before the days of Prohibition. The books on pre-Prohibition cocktails mention the use of orange bitters in about a quarter of all of the recipes made during that time. In addition, bartenders often used a large variety of other bitters to offer different tastes.
Orange bitters were certainly a key ingredient of the original martini cocktails. In the first edition of The Savoy Cocktail Book by Harry Cradock, published in 1930, the recipe for a dry martini called for equal amounts of gin and vermouth, with a hint of orange bitters.
As soon as you taste orange bitters, you’re invaded by the soft aroma of oranges. You’re flooded with a rich, fresh, and sweet orange flavor with spicy notes of cardamom and coriander, followed by a more complex level of spices. Orange bitters serve as the basis for many cocktails. Once you gather all of the ingredients you need at home, this easy recipe just takes a bit of time to produce bitters as they should be. With this recipe, you can give life to your best cocktails but with a homemade touch.
Orange Bitters
Yield: 2 1/4 cups
Ingredients
25 oz (750 ml) grain alcohol
1/2 lb (228 g) orange peel pieces
Juice of 2 oranges
1 tsp (5 ml) fennel seeds
1/2 tsp (2.5 ml) coriander
4 cardamom pods
20 drops gentian extract
Instructions
1. Add all ingredients to an airtight container. Close and store at room temperature.
2. Let soak for 14 days, shaking the container every two days.
3. After 14 days, strain the liquid and store bitters in a jar in a dark place.
Marcello Arena is a contributor at The Boys Club and blogger at Mela e Cannella.
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Just to clarify, do you mean drain the liquid or strain the liquid?
Thanks for the catch, Sara! You are supposed to strain the liquid.
Wow! Looks delicious. Thanks for the recipe!
I am a novice but I would like to try making these orange bitters. I am not sure what to purchase for the grain alcohol. Everclear? High end vodka? What/where do I find grain alcohol? Thanks for any help you can give me.
Hi Mary! Thanks for your note! Everclear would definitely work for this.
Where did you get those bottles??