Name: Milk of Roses
Ingredients: 15 grains spermaceti; 30 grains white wax; 1 teaspoon white Castile soap, powdered; 1 teaspoon oil of almonds; 6 teaspoons bitter almonds; 2 ounces sweet almonds; 6 tablespoons rectified spirit; 14 tablespoons distilled water; 6 minims otto of rose

Why it works: Almond and rose are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,465 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Milk of Roses

Ingredients

Directions

Blanch the almonds in water and quickly dry them with a clean cloth.
Beat the almonds into a paste with the powdered soap.
Melt the wax, spermaceti, and oil together in a small dish.
Pour the melted mixture into the almond paste and beat well.
Stir in the distilled water and rectified spirit, then add the otto of rose.
Strain the mixture through fine muslin.

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.

Almond + rosetop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,465 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together140 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Almond + spirittop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together143 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).