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Traditional Hydrodistillation
[Items obtained: Rose Otto, Rose Attar, Rose essential oil, Rose Hydrosol]
Extracting essential oil from rose petals is a complex and delicate process. Traditional steam distillation is currently recognized as the best method for extracting rose essential oil and pure water in the world. Top-grade rose essential oil and pure water are extracted from fresh petals. The temperature must be carefully controlled during the distillation process. Overheating will destroy the natural components of the rose and cause the aroma to evaporate. Rose petals contain only a very small amount of essential oil, with an oil yield between 0.02 and 0.05%, which means that about 6 to 8 tons of rose petals are needed to extract 1 liter of rose essential oil. Due to the extremely low oil yield and the fact that a lot of manpower, logistics, time, and space are required to complete the entire process of planting, picking, refining, and packaging, the global production of rose essential oil is limited and the supply is insufficient to meet the demand. As a result, the price is very expensive. A small bottle of 5ml rose essential oil is worth at least HKD1,000. If you see rose essential oil on the market that is not priced above this, it must be fake or not pure rose essential oil or not refined using this distillation method.
Rose Extraction Process
1. First, pure water from the High Atlas Mountains is poured into the bottom of a large distiller to heat it and generate steam. A large plate is placed on the top to hold a large number of fresh rose petals. Pure water is then poured in to moisten the roses for better evaporation. The bottom of the distiller is then slowly heated. The steam will pass through the petals, causing the rose cells to burst and release rose vapor containing plant compounds.
Increasing the proportion of water, flow rate, and temperature can shorten the distillation time and thus reduce production costs, but the quality of the resulting rose essential oil and dew will be greatly reduced. Excessively high temperatures will also destroy the natural ingredients and aroma of the rose. Therefore, the entire distillation process must be strictly controlled by experienced workers to extract the highest quality rose essential oil and dew.
2. When the rose vapor rises to the top of the distiller, it will be discharged into the condenser along the condenser tube. When the vapor enters the condenser and is cooled, it will slowly turn back into liquid. This liquid is rich in fine particles of rose oil and contains all the natural nutrients of roses.
3. The liquid will flow directly into the container. Since oil and water are incompatible, the oil will automatically separate and float to the surface of the water. This layer is the rare and precious rose essential oil, and the lower layer is the water-soluble rose water full of rose nutrients.
Rose water extracted by this traditional steam distillation method must be transparent (pink rose water must be fake or have added pigments to attract buyers), and has a light, fresh rose scent. The active ingredients will also be richer than homemade rose water.
4. The final step of the rose essential oil and rose water is to bottle them for storage and export. Rose essential oil has one more step than rose water. Before being bottled, it is placed in a transparent glass container and exposed to sunlight for a short period of time. The sunlight can bring impurities to the surface so that they can be skimmed off from the top, and what remains is the highest quality rose essential oil.
