lemon oleo-saccharum

Lemon oleo-saccharum is a wildly-aromatic extract of lemon essence in granulated sugar. Oleo-saccharum is an essential component of punch-making. In the old days, when sugar was sold in hard cakes, standard technique was to abrade the skin of the fruit with the chunks of sugar, which absorbed the essential oils. To produce oleo-saccharum today, you simply peel the thin zest of the fruit and bury the zest in granulated sugar (the variety of sugar is up to your discretion). Bagging the mixture and waiting some hours will suffice—the sugar will extract the oils on its own. You can accelerate the process through vacuum sealing, muddling, or stirring in a stand mixer. Generally speaking, the greater the ratio of zest to sugar, the more potent the resulting extraction. (The zest of 12 lemons per pound of sugar is a good starting point.) The result of the extraction will be a fragrant, oily mass of softened sugar crystals; typically, an oleo-saccharum will be dissolved and the zest strained out prior to use. If you dissolve the oleo-saccharum in citrus juice, you’ve created a shrub (also known as sherbet). If you use water, instead, you’ve produced an lemon syrup. Both have many applications in mixed drinks.