English rose

English rose oil begins with early‑morning harvest of fully opened petals, when volatile compounds peak. Workers cut stems and gently shake blossoms into collection baskets, avoiding bruising. In traditional Grasse workshops, petals are spread on glass plates and covered with odorless fat in a process called enfleurage; the fat absorbs the scent over several weeks. The saturated fat is then washed with alcohol, which extracts the fragrant molecules, producing a rose absolute. Parallelly, modern facilities use steam distillation: petals are placed in a copper still, steam passes through, capturing volatile oils that condense into a pale pink liquid called rose attar. The distillation run lasts 6 to 8 hours and yields 0.02‑0.04 ml of oil per kilogram of petals. Solvent extraction with hexane offers higher yields but requires careful removal of residues. After extraction, the oil is filtered, stored in amber glass, and kept at low temperature to preserve its delicate aroma.