It takes 10,000 roses to fill a single 5ml bottle that is equal to 833 dozen roses. It also takes 60 roses to create a single drop of Rose Otto oil. That’s just under 5 dozen roses!
Did you know that Rose Otto distilled from the Bulgarian Rosa damascena essential oil becomes solid at temperatures below 21 °C (69.8 °F)? This happens because the waxes in the oil begin to set below a certain temperature.
You might say that Rose Otto is a wax and not a liquid, but that is not entirely accurate. The parts of the rose used for distillation are the rose petals. The steam pushes its way through the petals during the steam distillation process until the wax and the oils become separated from the water during cooling and condensation. What is left is the stunning rose water in one part, and the oil and its waxes in another.
The Bulgarian climate is perfect for the rose oil production since the petals don’t over-produce the wax. In less favorable climates, the petals need to produce more wax for protection. When the climate is too harsh, or has too little sun, the rose petals will not have the optimum amount of wax as they adapt to their less than optimum climate by producing too much, or too little wax.
Knowing the difference on how your oil is extracted is very important. There are two process, Rose Otto is produced using the steam distillation method (the YL way), and Rose Absolute is produced using a solvent extraction method.
While both methods produce beautifully fragrant oils, the extraction method produces more oil and the resulting scent is stronger, which is why Rose Absolute is mostly used by the perfume industry, while Rose Otto is mostly used in Aromatherapy since the steam distillation process keeps its therapeutic grade intact.
My Rose oil is sometimes more gel and solid if it’s gotten cool. I just roll the bottle back and forth in my hands and it is soon back to its beautiful liquid state.
My favorite use of Rose is in DIY Beauty Serum. In a 2 dram dropper bottle, combine 4 drops Frankincense, 3 drops Myrrh, and 2 drops Rose. Top with Johoba oil. A drop of this Serum goes a LONG way and produces beautifully amazing results on my skin!
The farm manager, Nicholas Landel, has been working hard to find ways to ensure the fields don’t need any pesticides and that our farms maintain better than organic practices. He tried goats but they ate the lavender plants. He tried a few different breeds of sheep and they are the lavender plants too. He finally found a specific breed of sheep that eat everything EXCEPT the lavender plants! And they provide really natural organic fertilizer. 😉
And of course I had to mention the Ditch & Switch box just in time for the fall! Cleaner for pennies, natural sanitizer? Yes, please!
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