[Sca-cooks] Rose Water vs. Damask Water

[Gretchen Beck]

--On Sunday, May 09, 2010 3:13 PM -0400 Elise Fleming <alysk at ix.netcom.com>
wrote:

> Greetings!  A question was posted to our kingdom's cookery list about the
> difference between rose water and damask water.  Both are called for in
> Partridge's Treasurie of Commodious Conceits, 1591.  Since both are
> called for, there must be a difference.  Does anyone know what it would
> be?

I always thought that damask water was distilled from damask roses, while
rose water was distilled from any decent roses you happened to have.  FWIW,
the OED says damask water is rose water distilled from damask roses.  The
analogy that comes to mind is "scoth" and ""Laphroaig" -- both scotch, but
one has a flavor specific to itself due to its brewing and origin.

toodles, margaret