Why it works: Rose and saffron work together. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 78 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓
Rose-leaf Tea
Ingredients
Directions
Infuse dried rose petals in either milk or water.
Add a little saffron or a few drops of tincture of cochineal for color, if desired.
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.
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Rose + saffrontop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together78 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Milk + saffrontop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together319 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Rose + milktop 26% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,249 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the saffron
The recipe marks saffron as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rose, milk):
- Saffronthe original
- Cinnamonfits about as well
- Nutmegfits less well
- Macefits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against rose, milk. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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