Review:

Gin-laced orange juice delicately enriched with a splash of grenadine. A regal shake (with a swath of orange peel) adds a balancing zestiness to this cocktail.

Variant:

Served long in a Collins glass this becomes a Harvester. The combination of gin and orange juice appears in dozens of recipes, with these among the closest to the Orange Blossom:
Gin & Sin
Monkey Gland No. 2
Hula Hula, Houla Houla or Hoola-Hoola
Yokohama
Bermuda Cocktail

History:

This Prohibition-era cocktail first appears in Robert Vermeire's 1932 Cocktails: How to Mix Them where it is credited to "Malloy of Pittsburg." Vermeire was born in Belgium but learnt his craft in Germany before bartending in London, most notably at The Embassy Club, where he served many Americans escaping Prohibition. This also drove Americans to travel to Havana, Cuba where this cocktail appeared in Sloppy Joe's Bar Season 1932-33 combined menu and recipe book. It was obviously popular in Cuba as, the following year, the Orange Blossom appeared on the menu of another famous Cuban cocktail bar, Bar La Florida Cocktails (later renamed El Floridita).

In his 1935 Old Waldorf Astoria Bar Book, A.S. Crockett mentions to things to note regarding the Orange Blossom, firstly that it also went by the name Adirondack, and that another version was made with equal parts old tom gin, orange juice and rosso vermouth. Indeed, this Bronx-like vermouth version appears in numerous cocktail books through to and including Stanley M. Jones' 1977 Jones' Complete Barguide.

In his 1947 book The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks, David A. Embury says of the Orange Blossom, "Another Spawn of the Prohibition toad that I have already denounced is the Orange Blossom, consisting of equal parts of gin and orange juice. If, however, this drink is treated as a Sour-type cocktail and made accordingly, this is not too bad. In doing this it must be borne in mind that orange juice is sweeter and less pungent than either lime or lemon juice. Hence, the quantity of sugar must be cut down and that of the citrus juice increased." The recipe he gives calls for "1/2 part Sugar Syrup, 4 parts Orange Juice, and 8 parts Gin. He goes on to say, "The zest and flavour of the drink may be improved by adding 2 of 3 dashes of lime juice for each drink."

ORANGE BLOSSOM
¼ gill of Gin and ¼ gill of Orange Juice iced well and shaken with a little dash of Orange Bitters, and a dash of Grenadine if required sweet.
(Recipe by Malloy of Pittsburg.)
½ Gordon Gin.
½ Teaspoon Grenadine.
Cracked Ice.
Shake with and strain into a cocktail glass.

Robert Vermeire, Cocktails - How to Mix Them, 1932

ORANGE BLOSSOM
The juice of half an Orange.
1 Teaspoon of sugar.
Gordon Gin.
Shake with ice, and serve in a tall glass.

Sloppy Joe's Bar Season 1932-33

ORANGE BLOSSOM
11/2 Orange Juice.
½ Gordon Gin.
½ Teaspoon Grenadine.
Cracked Ice.
Shake with and strain into a cocktail glass.

Sloppy Joe's Bar Season 1932-33

Undoubtedly the ancestor of the cocktail that gained widest vogue during prohibition, particularly among householders who had to make their own, was what was known both as the Adirondack and the Orange Blossom No. 2. It consisted of one-half Orange Juice and one-half Gin, and was served in a bar glass. In the period just past, many persons who thought they had dependable bootleggers made up a concoction that approached the Orange Blossom No. 1, which consisted of one-third Orange Juice, one-third Tom Gin and one-third Italian Vermouth; or else the Eddy, which was one-third Gordon Gin, one-third French Vermouth and one-third Orange Juice. When one's host served a Bronx, during the late Doubtful Drink Era, it was more apt to be something whose content was one of the three just named – or almost anything. As a rule, the Orange Juice, at least, was ' the "real stuff.

ORANGE BLOSSOM
One-third Orange Juice
One-third Tom Gin
One-third Italian Vermouth
May have been named by a youthful bartender with romantic spring notions, though the weight of evidence ascribes it to some young bridegroom or other who wanted something novel to use a his final stag party.

ORANGE BLOSSOM No. 2
One-half Orange Juice
One-half Gin (bar glass)

A.S. Crockett, Old Waldorf Astoria Bar Book, 1935