Oleo saccharum ("oil sugar") is a

sugar Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose, fructose, and galactose. Compound sugars, also called disaccharides or double ...

– oil mixture produced by coating citrus or other oil-rich fruit rinds in an excess of sugar. The essential oils

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into the sugar give a concentrated aromatic mixture rich in terpenes. Because the oils are hydrophobic and volatile, they cannot be obtained through simple aqueous extraction processes. In mixology, oleo saccharum can be used to sweeten beverages by their direct use or as an ingredient in flavored

syrups In cooking, a syrup (less commonly sirup; from ar, شراب; , beverage, wine and la, sirupus) is a condiment that is a thick, viscous liquid consisting primarily of a solution of sugar in water, containing a large amount of dissolved sugars ...

. Oleo saccharum is a key component in many

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recipes, being listed as an ingredient as early as 1670. Oil extraction is greatly accelerated through

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or mechanical abrasion of the mixture, which helps to rupture oil-rich vacuoles on the rinds' surface or flavedo. A frequent misconception is that oil extraction occurs due to sugar's hygroscopic nature, though this is unlikely as the essential oils being extracted are hydrophobic. A similar misconception is that the extraction occurs via osmosis; the sugar cannot dissolve in the oil, so there is no sugar-solute based osmotic gradient.

References

{{reflist Drink mixers Citrus production