Name: Lavender Water
Ingredients: 4 ounces of cloves; ½ teaspoon of oil of bergamot; ½ teaspoon of essence of amber; 3 drams of musk oil; 5 grains of orris root; 2 drams of orris root (contused); 2 drams of lavender; 40 ounces of water

Why it works: Bergamot and lavender work together. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 82 recipes. Both carry decanal, which smells soap, orange peel. The science ↓

Lavender Water

Ingredients

Directions

Combine all ingredients in a container.
Macerate for 7 days.
Filter the mixture before use.

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.

Bergamot + lavendertop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together82 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Clove + bergamottop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together51 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Clove + lavendertop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together143 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).