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Spirit of Lavender

A spirit infused with nutmegs, cinnamon bark, red saunders, and lavender essence.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Nutmeg and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Spirit of Lavender

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Mix nutmegs, cinnamon bark, and red saunders in a jar.

  2. Infuse the mixture in a quart of brandy for two weeks, shaking the bottle for a minute every two days.

  3. After two weeks, add the essence of lavender.

  4. Let the mixture stand for one week.

  5. Pour off the clear liquid for use.

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.

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.

  1. Nutmeg + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Cinnamon + brandytop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,199 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Nutmeg + brandytop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,311 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  4. Cinnamon + lavendertop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together74 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Nutmeg + lavendertop 29% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together44 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Nutmegs
Adds warm, aromatic spice flavor to the infused brandy.
Cinnamon bark
Adds warm, sweet spice aroma to the infused brandy.
Brandy
Acts as the solvent that extracts flavor from the spices and lavender.
Essence of lavender
Adds floral aroma to the finished brandy.

The step that matters

Adding the essence of lavender after two weeks. Lavender's floral aroma is strong and can overpower the spices if added too early or in excess, so timing it after the spice infusion keeps the flavors balanced.

Swap the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cinnamon, brandy, lavender):

  1. Clovefits about as well
  2. Nutmegthe original
  3. Allspicefits less well
  4. Rosemaryfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against cinnamon, brandy, lavender. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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