Name: Milk of Roses
Ingredients: 1 ounce sweet oil of almonds; ¾ ounce concentrated solution of potash; 1 quart water; ½ drachm essential oil of lavender; ½ drachm essential oil of rosemary

Why it works: Lavender and rosemary work together. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 115 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Milk of Roses

Ingredients

1 ounce sweet oil of almonds
¾ ounce concentrated solution of potash
1 quart water
½ drachm essential oil of lavender
½ drachm essential oil of rosemary

Directions

Mix the sweet oil of almonds and concentrated solution of potash in a bowl.
Add the quart of water and stir until combined.
Incorporate the essential oils of lavender and rosemary.
Stir the mixture until it takes on a milky or saponaceous appearance.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

Lavender + rosemarytop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together115 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Almond + rosemarytop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together86 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Almond + lavendertop 31% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together60 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).