Rosewater is one of those ingredients that does very little on its own and changes everything when it is added. A few drops give Indian sweets the floral lift that makes them taste like the real thing rather than an approximation.

Use it sparingly. A splash in gulab jamun syrup, a little stirred through kheer or falooda, a small amount in lassi or in a jug of cold water with lemon.

It is not only for sweets. Rosewater lifts fresh fruit, works in rice pudding, and turns up in drinks right across the subcontinent and the Middle East.

Available at Curry Corner, North Melbourne.