[Sca-cooks] sweet almonds

[Alexandria Doyle]

Good morning,
I am working to redact a couple of perfume recipes (for gloves), one
from Markham's Good house wife, 1615 and another book dated 1607,
published by Peter Short- no other author noted.  I have a couple of
similar recipes from the 1670's for comparison.  There are two items
that I am curious about that I am hoping someone can shed some light
on.

Several of the recipes uses oils, some mention "oil of sweet almonds"
another mention just "oil of almonds".  If it means anything, the
earlier the recipes use the "sweet" designation.  And the oil is being
used as the carrier, if I understand the recipe, rather than as one of
the scents, though I'm sure it adds something along the way.

and gum dragagant or gum dragon?  The first use is just after the
application of color to the gloves, almost like a fixative or
conditioner (mixed with oil of sweet almonds and rosewater) before the
actual perfume is applied, and later, it is used as the carrier with
musk, etc to apply the scent.

any insights would be most appreciated

alex
-- 
So much to do and so little attention span to get it done with…