Rose Absolute Turkey
Origin: Turkey

• Details and product description

  Introduction:

  Roses are classified into two groups. Ornamental roses, grown for their beauty, represent the vast majority of existing or created varieties. Fragrant roses, used in perfumery, include two predominate varieties: May rose (Rosa centifolia) and the Damask rose (Rosa Damascena), which got its name from its origin, Damascus, Syria.             Red roses represent passion, white, the promise of marriage, but it is the pink rose that creates the subtle yet intoxicating scent of so many women’s fragrances! Of the three thousand cultivars in the world, just two rose-colored varieties are favored by perfumers, Centifolia (1% of global production) and Damascena (99%). Of course, it is not their color but their fragrance that appeals to aromatic enthusiasts and perfumers worldwide. Their incredibly sophisticated scent is made up of more than 300 different compounds. This complexity has posed a real problem for chemical experts. In fact, despite all their efforts, they have still not succeeded in faithfully imitating the smell, which is by far too intricately complex. This admission of powerlessness delights hundreds of Mediterranean horticulturists who grow one of these two varieties in Morocco, Egypt, Bulgaria, Turkey and, of course, Grasse in France. 

  History:

  Myths and Legends: White roses symbolize perfect beauty. They can also represent silence, purity, chastity and divine wisdom. In Christianity, the mystic rose is the symbol of the Virgin Mary. A pink rose represents tenderness, the yellow rose, forgiveness for infidelities and red, the consuming power of passion.       The troubadours celebrated the rose as the mystic symbol of purity. At that time, the color pink represented the passage from death to regeneration and the first stage of initiation. The god of silence is often represented with a finger on his lips and a white rose in one hand. Ancient dining rooms were often decorated with a stucco crown of roses in the center of the ceiling: it represented the crown or bouquet of roses that the hostess placed above the guests, reminding them to guard complete silence about what was said during the meal. In the fifth century in France, Saint Medard founded the “fête de la rosière” to encourage the practice of virtue in adolescents. One young woman, honored as the most virtuous, is rewarded with both a crown and a bouquet of roses. This custom is still celebrated today in many towns and cities in France. Roses can also act as magic charms for attraction and protection. They have been used for love potions and talismans against demons. Finally, mythology offers an explanation of the rose’s fragrance: legend has it that in the gardens of Olympus, Cupid – overly curious – was stung by bees that were gathering nectar from roses. Drops of blood fell from the stings and stained the white roses, turning them vermilion. In a panic, Venus, Cupid's mother, ran, stumbled and spilled the "bottle of fragrances" she wore on her belt onto the roses. Roses have been fragrant ever since… Cultural significance: For centuries the beauty of the rose has been celebrated in art, literature and used as a symbol in religion, romance, and even politics. No other flower is so universally known and admired as the rose. Use of the rose is mentioned in tablets, found in modern-day Iraq, that go back 3 to 4 thousand years. Rose oil for perfume has been made in Iran since ancient times and Cleopatra is reported to have soaked the sails of her boat with rose perfume so that the winds would become love drunk and do her bidding.       Roses are symbols of love and beauty. They were sacred to a number of goddesses including Isis, Aphrodite and Venus. Since they are also symbols of regeneration, roses are laid on tombstones. The Ancients called this ceremony: rosalia. In Rome, during public games, aediles or Roman magistrates gave the senators and other distinguished spectators crowns of roses. Another Roman custom consisted of placing a wild rose on the door of a room where secrets or confidential matters were discussed. The phrase “sub rosa,” or “under the rose”, means to keep a secret and is derived from this ancient Roman practice. It was also a custom for amphitheaters to be furnished with scented water fountains to refresh the spectators. Damask rose was so important to Romans daily life that it was cultivated in profusion and was even grown in Egypt for export to Rome in winter. History: Roses have a long and colorful history. They have been symbols of love, beauty, war, and politics. According to fossil evidence, the rose is 35 million years old. The rose is a perennial shrub with lovely flowers and thorny stems. Roses are native primarily to the temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. Most rose species are native to Asia, with smaller numbers native to North America and a few to Europe and Northwest Africa. Garden cultivation of roses began some 5,000 years ago, probably in China. Many are cultivated for their beautiful, fragrant flowers. Commonly their colors range from white to yellow, orange, pink or red. Wild roses grow alone or in small clusters. The flowers of wild roses usually have five petals, while the flowers of cultivated roses often have multiple sets of petals. Roses from different regions of the world hybridize readily, giving rise to types that overlap the parental forms, and making it difficult to determine basic species. Of the more than 100 species of roses, fewer than 10 species were involved in the crossbreeding that ultimately produced the many types of garden roses we know today. Ancient civilizations used rose as the main ingredient in the manufacturing of perfumes and cosmetics. Arabs and Berbers of Morocco distilled roses and produced rose water from the first century BC. Roses were also used to fight many diseases. During the Roman period, roses were also grown extensively in the Middle East. They were used as confetti at celebrations, for medicinal purposes, and as a source of perfume and cosmetics. Roman nobility established large public rose gardens south of Rome. After the fall of the Roman Empire, the popularity of roses seemed to rise and fall depending on gardening trends of the time. The Rose Damascena is thought to have been born in the western part of the Iranian plateau. From the 10th to the 17th century the rose industry was developed and dominated by Persia, and particularly in Shiraz, the famous city of poets and oriental culture. From here the rose industry spread into Arabia, Mesopotamia, Palestine, Asia Minor, Greece, India, North Africa, and the conquering Moors brought it as far as Spain. Crusader Robert de Brie is said to have brought the plant to Europe from Persia, on his return from the Crusades around 1254. It traveled through the Middle East from Iran via Syria and Palestine. The name Damascena alludes to the city of Damascus. The Damascus variety was created from crossing the Persian Rose with a wild rose, Rosa gallica and Rosa moschata. In the 17th century, a Turk from Tunis introduced the rose into the Kazanlik Valley in Bulgaria. The town of Kazanlak in central Bulgaria was the center of production of rose essential oil from the 17th century. Throughout the 19th century, the Bulgarian rose oil industry reigned supreme, almost monopolizing the entire world supply of rose oil. This cultivation spread out in the "Valley of Roses" near Plovdiv and Bulgaria produced up to 50% of the rose essential oil on the world market. This monopoly would not be broken until the industry was nationalized due to dramatic changes in the political and economic climate after the Second World War, when production fell into a steep decline. Production experienced another dramatic downturn after the fall of communism, starting in 1990, when financial assistance to peasants was eliminated, and they turned to cultivate more profitable plants, such as grains. Roses were taken to Turkey by Ottoman merchants, and cuttings were brought back to Asia Minor during the movements of population following the war between Russia and Turkey in 1878 where it thrives today. Manufacturing of rose oil began in 1892 in Turkey under the direction of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the Republic of Turkey. Small scale village production gave its place to large scale industrial production in 1935. Today, Turkey holds the record as the largest producer of rose oil. THE BEAUTIFUL ORIENTAL: That magical sensation, the Damask rose or Damascena, can be found in the Isparta region in south-western Turkey. It thrives on the gentle slopes of the high plateaus of the Taurus Mountains, enchanting the countryside with its delicate fragrances and infinitely delighting Robertet and its clients. "With Robertet Gulyagi, our Turkish subsidiary, we have been operating in this region for more than 50 years," explains Daniel Allard, Head of Production in Turkey. Today, we represent one-quarter of national production and process on-site at our Senir plant: 1,000 tons of petals per year to produce rose essential oil and rose concrete." Rosa damascena is praised as the best rose used in perfumery and it is as precious as it is costly: several hundred kilos of rose petals are needed to make one kilo of absolute, the ultimate quintessence of the flower. Rose essence is therefore used sparingly or in luxury fragrances, mainly to create an explosive, floral and fresh impact in the top notes or the beginning of the middle notes, which are known as the heart of the fragrance.

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