1
Since then, no other flower has been immortalised in paintings, extolled in songs or mentioned in world literature as often as the rose. Its origins date back to early China, the ancient Persian Empire and the legendary Babylon. Thousands of years ago, oriental rulers strolled through beautiful rose gardens and their oils from the legendary Damask rose, which is still cultivated for this purpose today in Bulgaria, France, Morocco and Turkey. No fewer than three million rose petals are needed to obtain just one single litre of pure rose oil.
xuanhuongho I Shutterstock.com
alchemists were skilled in creating healing ointments and fragrant
Today, just as in days gone by, the rose petals are picked by hand at dawn, softened in water and then distilled, thus releasing more than 300 different active ingredients. A great many additional steps are then required in order to turn the initial distillate into a high quality essential oil. Rose oil was therefore not only the first ever fragrant oil to be obtained from a plant but it has always been one of the most valuable as well. Currently, the price of a kilo of pure rose oil reaches up to EUR 8,000. Furthermore, rose fragrance is the note that is most frequently used in perfumes – such as in the classic „Chanel No. 5“. In Persia, the rose has been heralded as a sacred plant since time immemorial and it was not only used as a mood enhancer and aphrodisiac. As a welcome gesture, guests of the Persian ruling houses were sprinkled with rosewater (which is produced during the perfume production process) from a precious glass carafe – and every Sultan insisted on the ladies from their harem bathing in copious amounts of rosewater before a rendezvous. Fragrant rosewater also became a part of the culinary world. Even today, it is still added to refine ice cream and other baking and Michelin star chefs have recently begun to use rose petals with fish and grilled meat and on fresh salad. The captivating petals also found favour with Cleopatra‘s Roman lover Anthony, and they succeeded in effortlessly disarming this
africa924 I Shutterstock.com
desserts in Iran, in Europe it is a popular flavouring for Christmas
otherwise extremely experienced military commander. On his visit to Egypt, he even saw rose extract being put to use for the construction of the pyramids. Cleopatra‘s slaves regularly went on strike if they did not receive their daily fortifier – a mixture of honey and rose elixir. 1 Farmer wroking on farmland, he water the plant for flower tree in Sadec, Vietnam. 2 Rose shop in Lijiang ancient town in Yunnan, China. 3 Lusaka, Zambia: African men in the greenhouses select roses for export to Europe, which provide employment to 800 farmers.
92
Nature I History
netherlands-tourism.com
4 Aalsmeer‘s FloraHolland flower auction. The largest flower auction in the world.