Name: Lavender Water
Ingredients: 8 ounces spirits of wine; 1 teaspoon oil of lavender; 10 drops ambergris; 20 drops essence of bergamot

Why it works: Lavender and bergamot work together. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 82 recipes. Both carry decanal, which smells soap, orange peel. The science ↓

Lavender Water

Ingredients

8 ounces spirits of wine
1 teaspoon oil of lavender
10 drops ambergris
20 drops essence of bergamot

Directions

Combine the spirits of wine and oil of lavender in a bottle.
Add the ambergris and essence of bergamot.
Shake well to mix all ingredients thoroughly.

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 + bergamottop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together82 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Spirit + winetop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together701 recipes

Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).
Spirit + bergamottop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together73 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Spirit + lavendertop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together122 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Wine + bergamottop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together40 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

What each ingredient does

Spirits of wine: Alcohol carrier that dissolves the essential oils and spreads their scent when applied.
Oil of lavender: Provides the main floral aroma of the water.
Ambergris: Acts as a fixative, helping the scent last longer by slowing evaporation of the lighter notes.
Essence of bergamot: Adds a bright, fresh citrus top note that lifts the floral aroma.

“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.