Why it works: Sugar and rose are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 25% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,584 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Rose Lozenges
Ingredients
Directions
Make the paste
Steep the gum dragon in rose-water.
Mix the gum with powdered sugar until it is not too stiff.
Color the mixture with vegetable carmine or cochineal.
If needed, add a drop of essence of roses for flavor.
Shape and dry
Roll out the paste on a clean marble slab to about 1/8 inch thick, using powdered sugar or starch to prevent sticking.
Cut into shapes with a tin cutter.
Place the shapes on a sieve to dry in the stove.
Store the dried lozenges in boxes for use.
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.
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.
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Sugar + rosetop 25% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,584 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Gum dragon
- Forms the binding gel that holds the paste together and lets it roll and cut cleanly.
- Powdered sugar
- Adds sweetness and bulk, stiffening the paste so it can be rolled and shaped.
- Cochineal
- Provides the red color of the lozenges without changing their flavor.
The step that matters
Mixing the gum with powdered sugar. Gum dragon sets firm as it dries, so the paste must be worked to a consistency that is not too stiff. Too much sugar or too little liquid makes it crack when rolled and cut.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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