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Otto of Roses

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
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Otto of Roses

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Fill a large glazed earthen jar or clean wooden cask with well-picked rose petals, free from seeds and stalks.

  2. Pour enough pure spring water to cover the petals.

  3. Place the vessel in the sun at sunrise and let it sit until evening.

  4. Bring it indoors for the night.

  5. Repeat this process for six or seven days.

  6. On the third or fourth day, fine yellow oily particles will float on the surface.

  7. After two or three more days, these will gather into a scum, which is the ottar of roses.

  8. Use cotton tied to a stick to collect the scum and squeeze it into a small phial, sealing it immediately.

  9. Repeat this collection for several evenings until no more oil rises to the surface.

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.

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