Name: White Heliotrope
Ingredients: 2 teaspoons Treguier's Sulphur; 60 ounces white lilac extract; 1 ounce extract of tuberose; 20 ounces extract of orange flower; 10 ounces extract of jasmine; 6 ounces cardamom seeds, bruised; 2 ounces spirit of bitter almond; 8 grains benzoic acid

Why it works: Cardamom and almond match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 457 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

White Heliotrope

Ingredients

2 teaspoons Treguier's Sulphur
60 ounces white lilac extract
1 ounce extract of tuberose
20 ounces extract of orange flower
10 ounces extract of jasmine
6 ounces cardamom seeds, bruised
2 ounces spirit of bitter almond
8 grains benzoic acid

Directions

Macerate all ingredients together for two weeks or up to a month if possible.
If the odor of the cardamom predominates, add more extract of jasmine to neutralize it.

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.

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.

Cardamom + almondtop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together457 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Orange + cardamomtop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together228 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Orange + almondtop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,125 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Orange + spirittop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together171 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Orange + jasminetop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together33 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).