Name: Lavender Water
Ingredients: 3 teaspoons English oil of lavender; 1 pint spirits of wine; 1 ounce orange flower water; 1 ounce rose water; 4 ounces distilled water; 3 teaspoons essence of ambergris or musk (optional)

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 ↓

Lavender Water

Ingredients

3 teaspoons English oil of lavender
1 pint spirits of wine
1 ounce orange flower water
1 ounce rose water
4 ounces distilled water
3 teaspoons essence of ambergris or musk (optional)

Directions

In a quart bottle, combine the English oil of lavender and spirits of wine. Shake well.
Add the orange flower water, rose water, and distilled water. Mix thoroughly.
If desired, add the essence of ambergris or musk for a musky scent.

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).
Orange + rosetop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together876 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Spirit + orangetop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together171 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Lavender + spirittop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together122 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,046 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

Oil of lavender: Provides the main lavender aroma that defines the scent of the finished water.
Spirits of wine: Dissolves the aromatic oils so they blend evenly into the water.
Orange flower water: Adds a light floral sweetness that rounds out the lavender scent.
Rose water: Adds a delicate floral note that softens the sharpness of the lavender.

“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.