The King Arthur product may actually be an artificial of the real thing.
Fiori di Sicilia is an honest to goodness extract of a Sicilian flower, but
it's very pricey and extremely rare to find in the states. I have not used
the King Arthur product, so I couldn't tell you if it compares to the real
thing. My one and only bottle of Fiori di Sicilia came straight from Rome
(via the graciousness of a good friend who made a trip there last Spring).
It cost approximately 60 U.S. Dollars for 2.5 fluid ounces. From my
understanding, it is not a mass produced product in the region, but usually
made by independent growers of these flowers and sold locally. My best
guess is that U.S. producers are trying to come as close to the real thing
as possible by blending various extracts and flavors. I would go ahead and
give it a shot. Maybe make a recipe with the extract and another recipe
with orange/lemon/vanilla extracts and see how the two compare.
Roxanne Rieske (Rokzane)
rokzane@comcast.net