Name: Milk of Roses
Ingredients: 1 ounce Jordan almonds; ¼ ounce almond soap; ¾ pint rose water; 1½ pints spirits of wine; 1 teaspoon essential oil of lavender

Why it works: Spirit and wine work together. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 701 recipes. Both carry isoamyl acetate, which smells banana, fruity. The science ↓

Milk of Roses

Ingredients

Directions

Blanch and beat the almonds with some of the rose water.
Bruise the soap and mix it with the almond mixture.
Combine all ingredients together.

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.

Spirit + winetop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together701 recipes

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

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,465 recipes

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

Smell alikelow

Cooked together122 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together140 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Rose + lavendertop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together149 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).