Name: Compound Spirits of Lavender
Ingredients: 2 teaspoons dried lavender flowers; 2 teaspoons ground nutmeg; 2 teaspoons ground mace; 2 teaspoons ground cloves; 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon; 1 quart spirits (such as vodka or grain alcohol)

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 ↓

Compound Spirits of Lavender

Ingredients

2 teaspoons dried lavender flowers
2 teaspoons ground nutmeg
2 teaspoons ground mace
2 teaspoons ground cloves
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 quart spirits (such as vodka or grain alcohol)

Directions

Prepare the spices

Combine the lavender flowers, nutmeg, mace, cloves, and cinnamon in a bowl.
Pulverize the mixture until fine.

Infuse

Add the pulverized spices to the quart of spirits.
Stir well and let it infuse for a few days before using.

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.

Nutmeg + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together11,917 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together14,189 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
Nutmeg + clovetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together8,686 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Nutmeg + macetop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together6,557 recipes

Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
Mace + clovetop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together8,400 recipes

Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

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

What each ingredient does

Spirits: Alcohol acts as the solvent that draws aroma compounds out of the spices.
Dried lavender flowers: Provides a floral, perfumed aroma to the infused spirit.
Ground nutmeg: Adds a warm, sweet, aromatic spice note.
Ground mace: Adds a warm, delicate spice flavor similar to nutmeg.
Ground cloves: Adds a pungent, intensely aromatic warmth.
Ground cinnamon: Adds a sweet, woody warmth that rounds out the blend.

The step that matters

Letting the spirits infuse. Alcohol extracts flavor and aroma compounds from the spices gradually, so the taste develops over time. Using it too soon gives a weak, unbalanced flavor.

Swap the mace

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

Allspicefits better
Cardamomfits better
Rosemaryfits better
Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against lavender, nutmeg, clove, cinnamon, spirit. 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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Compound Spirits of Lavender