Blossom Water

The idea of infusing water with flower essences first struck me while I was planting perennials at our home in the beautiful Berkshires. For as long as I can remember, I have always been planting something – vegetables, herbs, flowers, shrubs – usually all four, crammed into each short New England season. My wife, Trish, sometimes jokes that the only reason we bought the Lenox house was so I could play in the cottage gardens. One Saturday afternoon, I returned from a local nursery with a carload full of plants. While placing a mock orange specimen in glorious bloom into its newly dug hole, I was momentarily stopped in my tracks by the sunlight shining through its translucent white petals and their captivating citrus fragrance. As always, I was cheered by this modest but stirring show of nature’s charms. Suddenly I thought to myself, “Wouldn’t it be amazing if there were a healthy and refreshing drink that could evoke this same feeling — a way, literally, to drink in the essence of the experience?” Trish still remembers that day when I stormed into the house, leaving a trail of dirt behind me, to tell her of my new idea.