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Rose Water

A fragrant liquid made by infusing rose attar, sugar, carbonate of magnesia, water, and spirit.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
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Rose Water

Why it works: Rose and spirit work together. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 140 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Rose Water

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a bowl, mix the attar of rose with the white sugar and carbonate of magnesia.

  2. Gradually add the water and proof spirit, stirring well.

  3. Filter the mixture through paper to remove any solids.

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.

  1. Rose + spirittop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together140 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  2. Sugar + spirittop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together602 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  3. Rose + sugartop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked 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

Attar of rose
Provides the concentrated rose aroma that defines the finished water.
White sugar
Adds a little sweetness and helps the flavour blend smoothly into the liquid.
Proof spirit
Carries the aromatic oils through the water so they disperse evenly rather than floating.

The step that matters

Gradually add the water and proof spirit, stirring well. Rose oil is not soluble in water, so adding the liquid slowly while stirring helps the spirit keep the oils dispersed instead of separating into droplets or a film.

“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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