Triple sec

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Triple sec is a colourless, orange-flavoured liqueur used in thousands of mixed drinks and recipes as a sweetening and flavouring agent. The orange flavour comes from the dried peels of prematurely-picked oranges that grow natively on the island of Curaçao, and tend to be more bitter than other oranges. The peels then macerate in alcohol to disperse the flavour.

The word sec would normally mean "dry" in the French language, implying a lack of sweetness; but sec, in this case, means distilled, explaining the colourless appearance of the liqueur from the three-stage process, as well as the un-implied sweetness. The original triple sec is Cointreau, a liqueur developed by Adolphe and Edouard-Jean Cointreau in France. It is very similar to an undistilled liqueur called Curaçao, which comes from the island of Curaçao using the bitter Laraha orange peels. Though the two liqueurs are akin to one another, Curaçao dates from 1886, while Cointreau dates from 1849.

Triple sec has an average ABV of 30%, or 60 proof, though different brands vary in alcohol content from 15% to 40%.

Non-alcoholic versions are also available, including these brands:

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