Rosewater Recipe Traditional
Begin collecting fresh rose blossoms and preserve them in salt for up to six months – petals may become brownish
but this will have minimal impact upon the quality of the Rosewater. Use coarse salt or sea salt. Roses (two parts
by volume): Salt (one part by volume).
The salt will absorb moisture and rose oil, as well as to prevent molds and fugal growth while waiting for distillation.
The salt should be shaken off the petals for the first part of the procedure. They can be added back to the
fermented roses during distillation. It will precipitate in the bottom of the boiling flask and can be reused on future
batches. It needs to be distilled in order to extract the rose oil and hydrosol which has imbedded into the crystal
matrix.
Procedure:
1. Place petals and plant parts into the boiling flask or fermentation jar.
2. Cover the petals and plant parts with water.
3. Allow to stand and macerate
4. Stir the batch one or two times daily and observe until a wine/vinegar odor manifests, you are not fermenting
for alcohol just for maximum plant (cellulose) break down.
NB: Do not add sugar! Do not add yeast! You are not inducing ethyl alcohol production with these
procedures.
5. Once the wine/vinegar odor has become evident the fermented petals and salt can be placed into the
distillation process.
From: A Treatise on the Manufacture and Distillation of Alcoholic Liquors – Facsimile of the 1871 edition,
David Nathan-Maiser.
Herman Boerhaave (1668-1738) describes “spiritus rector” – the specific odor peculiar to a plant or plant part.
Here we have the spiritus rector of fermented rose petals which will intensify with the distillation/purification process.
During the Medieval period thermometers did not exist and the concept of “degrees” was not yet a reality. The
period texts make statements like: “heat in the balnium” or “heat in ashes,” which describes the heat index required
for the distillation process to occur.
Balnium – water bath, heated from below, can be a cooking pot with water in it and the boiling flask placed into the
water bath, provides heat around the flask, often up to the top of the neck just below the alembic.
Ashes – a bath of white ashes from a fire, warm but not direct flames which can crack a flask and ruin the project,
allows for a smoother longer heating, the contents are less likely to “flash” over into the collecting receptacle.
The “first run” can be placed back into the boiling flask and redistilled. You should filter out the plant parts and
material, through a NON METALIC strainer or cheese cloth. I squeeze the plant parts out and redistill a couple of
times to concentrate the salt out for reuse, but the used salt will have a red/pink cast as well as a slight rose smell.
The final run of the rose water should have a slightly sweet taste and feel refreshing cool sensation to the skin.
The Arabic physicians are reported to have been using Rosewater to treat hot diseases and fevers as early as the
6th century. During the reign of Shah Khusro I (530-79 CE) Persian physicians and scholars developed a medical
school at Jundishapur, complete with a botanical garden. The Persian belief that the “virtue” of herbs was hidden
within their petals, roots, leaves and stems and the medical school distilled this virtue out and concentrated the
“essence” what we now call “essential oils.”
Begin collecting fresh rose blossoms and preserve them in salt for up to six months – petals may become brownish
but this will have minimal impact upon the quality of the Rosewater. Use coarse salt or sea salt. Roses (two parts
by volume): Salt (one part by volume).
The salt will absorb moisture and rose oil, as well as to prevent molds and fugal growth while waiting for distillation.
The salt should be shaken off the petals for the first part of the procedure. They can be added back to the
fermented roses during distillation. It will precipitate in the bottom of the boiling flask and can be reused on future
batches. It needs to be distilled in order to extract the rose oil and hydrosol which has imbedded into the crystal
matrix.
Procedure:
1. Place petals and plant parts into the boiling flask or fermentation jar.
2. Cover the petals and plant parts with water.
3. Allow to stand and macerate
4. Stir the batch one or two times daily and observe until a wine/vinegar odor manifests, you are not fermenting
for alcohol just for maximum plant (cellulose) break down.
NB: Do not add sugar! Do not add yeast! You are not inducing ethyl alcohol production with these
procedures.
5. Once the wine/vinegar odor has become evident the fermented petals and salt can be placed into the
distillation process.
From: A Treatise on the Manufacture and Distillation of Alcoholic Liquors – Facsimile of the 1871 edition,
David Nathan-Maiser.
Herman Boerhaave (1668-1738) describes “spiritus rector” – the specific odor peculiar to a plant or plant part.
Here we have the spiritus rector of fermented rose petals which will intensify with the distillation/purification process.
During the Medieval period thermometers did not exist and the concept of “degrees” was not yet a reality. The
period texts make statements like: “heat in the balnium” or “heat in ashes,” which describes the heat index required
for the distillation process to occur.
Balnium – water bath, heated from below, can be a cooking pot with water in it and the boiling flask placed into the
water bath, provides heat around the flask, often up to the top of the neck just below the alembic.
Ashes – a bath of white ashes from a fire, warm but not direct flames which can crack a flask and ruin the project,
allows for a smoother longer heating, the contents are less likely to “flash” over into the collecting receptacle.
The “first run” can be placed back into the boiling flask and redistilled. You should filter out the plant parts and
material, through a NON METALIC strainer or cheese cloth. I squeeze the plant parts out and redistill a couple of
times to concentrate the salt out for reuse, but the used salt will have a red/pink cast as well as a slight rose smell.
The final run of the rose water should have a slightly sweet taste and feel refreshing cool sensation to the skin.
The Arabic physicians are reported to have been using Rosewater to treat hot diseases and fevers as early as the
6th century. During the reign of Shah Khusro I (530-79 CE) Persian physicians and scholars developed a medical
school at Jundishapur, complete with a botanical garden. The Persian belief that the “virtue” of herbs was hidden
within their petals, roots, leaves and stems and the medical school distilled this virtue out and concentrated the
“essence” what we now call “essential oils.”
| Rosewater Recipe |
The Oil Commonly Called the Spirit of Roses
“Take of damask or red roses, being fresh, as many as you please. Infuse them in as much warm water as is
sufficient for the space of 24 hours. Then strain and press them and repeat the infusion several times with
pressing until the liquor becomes fully impregnated, which then must be distilled in an alembic with a refrigerator
or copper still with a worm. Let the spirit which swims on the water be separated, and the water kept for a new
infusion.
This kind of spirit may be made by bruising the roses with salt, or laying a lane of roses and another of salt, and
so keeping them half a year or more, which then must be distilled in as much common water or rosewater as is
sufficient.”
French, John, The Art of Distillation, Book 1; London, 1651, page 22 of 27
“Take of damask or red roses, being fresh, as many as you please. Infuse them in as much warm water as is
sufficient for the space of 24 hours. Then strain and press them and repeat the infusion several times with
pressing until the liquor becomes fully impregnated, which then must be distilled in an alembic with a refrigerator
or copper still with a worm. Let the spirit which swims on the water be separated, and the water kept for a new
infusion.
This kind of spirit may be made by bruising the roses with salt, or laying a lane of roses and another of salt, and
so keeping them half a year or more, which then must be distilled in as much common water or rosewater as is
sufficient.”
French, John, The Art of Distillation, Book 1; London, 1651, page 22 of 27
Here is a 9th C. Arabic text - manual for Rose Water
Distillation. The chamber/house is occupied by
multiple curcurbits (boiling flasks) being heated by a
common source.
We can see the collecting vessels being air cooled
outside of the heating chamber. It is not possible to
determine the actual physical space or dimensions
base upon the picture.
Unfortunately I am not able to translate the text.
Distillation. The chamber/house is occupied by
multiple curcurbits (boiling flasks) being heated by a
common source.
We can see the collecting vessels being air cooled
outside of the heating chamber. It is not possible to
determine the actual physical space or dimensions
base upon the picture.
Unfortunately I am not able to translate the text.