The story about The Rose Water by Kenneth Min Zee
Origin of Rose Water
For centuries, the Damascus rose (Rosa damascena) has been considered a symbol of beauty, love, and happiness. Our word "rose" goes back to the Greek word of red, rodos. The Romans, who scented their wine with rose petals, connected the flower with Venus, the goddess of love. The origin of Damask rose is the Middle East, and some evidences indicate that the origin of rose water is Iran, but the origin of its fragrant oil and extracts is Greece. There are many evidences that cultivation and consumption of Damascus rose in Iran has a long history and Iran is one of its origins. It is believed that the distillation of roses for the oil was originated from in the late 7th century AD, and spread to the provinces of later in 14th century. But a Persian scientist by the name of Avicenna, is credited with the invention of the process for extracting rose water from rose petals in the early 11th century.
How We Manufacture Rose Water
Damascus rose grows best above sea level and that is why we have selected Mangalla mountain range to harvest the rose. In 1993, the first wild roses were planted in Mangalla Hill which is located some 650 meters above sea level . The colors of the roses were white, pink, red, and yellow. At present, the plantation has grown to approximately 250,000 square meters, and the roses are now blossoming as healthier as ever. So we realized that now is the time to share this wonderful genuine high quality rose water with ancient recipe, and 100% free from pesticides. Normally, even organic farming uses fertilizers and pesticides which include herbicides, insecticides and fungicides, but we absolutely do not use any of those. We use only volcanic ashes and spent rose buds and petals as fertilizers. We have adapted the ancient method of producing The Rose Water, exactly the same process as how the Persians produced in the 11th Century. The only difference is that we use copper still instead of the brass still. We use only certain types of dry and live woods to heat the still, and it is extremely delicate procedure to heat sequentially to control the secret operating temperature, in which it requires intensive monitoring during the entire process. Yes, we do not use conventional heating devices such as gas and electricity. We have attempted to do so to reduce labor intensiveness, but we could never produce the original product quality with the conventional equipment, limiting ourselves to produce only certain volume each year.Believe it or not, in order to produce only 1,000 ml (1 liter) of The Rose Water, it requires more than 40 kilogram (Kg) of rose petals. It is important to note that WE DO NOT USE ANY STEAM and/or ADD WATER (H2O) during the entire manufacturing process. This is the KEY to our magnificent product quality. We also DO NOT ADD ANY preservatives nor ethyl alcohol in our product. We strictly follow the ancient formula in producing the genuine rose water, therefore, we named our product "The Rose Water."
Evaporation Distillation
The distillation technique became popular in the Middle East in the early Middle Ages, and was brought to Europe by the crusaders. The fruits of the rosebush, know as "rose hips", were harvested, too, and boiled down to make fragrant syrup. At medieval banquets roses were used to perfume the water for hand washing at table.
Physicians praised roses for their supposes power to heal eye diseases. Thus, the rose water were used as the traditional medicine in Egypt, Greece, China, and India because of its remarkable healing properties.
The most usage of Rose water is in religious ceremonies. It is used in mosques especially at mourning ceremonies, to calm and relax people. The highest quality rose water is produced in Kashan. Kaaba (God House) in , is washed yearly by unique and special rose water of Kashan. Rose water is also of high value in the food industry and some special foods are prepared using this product (2). Rose water has a very distinctive flavor and is used heavily in Persian and Middle east cuisine- in sweets such as nougat, raahat and baklava. For example, rose water is used to give some types of loukoum (or "Turkish Delight") their distinctive flavors.
Besides rose water being used medicinally and nutritionally, it is obviously a usual component of perfume.
Due to limited availability of the product, we only sell The Rose Water through referrals to place your order.
The standard bottle comes in a 50 ml glass bottle with atomizer. We also have a purse size 8 ml glass bottle with atomizer. Bottles and atomizers are all made in Italy.
Please Note: Products and prices listed may change at any time without prior notice. The products are supplied to customers subject to availability, and only through referrals.
To contact our customer service team in Hong Kong please dial +852-3563-6100 or e-mail us at info@starproducts.com.hk.
To contact our customer service team in Japan, please contact Miki at +81-45-621-2504 or miki@zbhomes.com.