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Rose-Water
When the buds of the red rose begin to expand into the full-blown flower, their perfume is most perfect, and in that state they should be gathered on a dry morning, the heels cut off, and the leaves only put into a clean cask in layers, with salt sprinkled between them, to preserve them till they are collected in quantity sufficient for distillation. Fill the still two-thirds with the petals and salt together, with a little water at the bottom to prevent burning, and have the still put into a water bath; proceed to the distillation with a very slow fire, and receive the first product in several phials in order to examine it. The first will be highly impregnated; and as soon as the slightest empyreumatic odour or burnt smell is perceived, throw away the portion that is contaminated, and stop the distillation. Rose-water should be kept in a cool, dark place, as heat and light speedily cause it to spoil. It is best to put it into a stone jar with a cork, that it may be drawn off without disturbing the sediment, which is apt to arise if decanted from small bottles. It should be made in small quantities at a time, as it will not keep long. The salted leaves will keep for months, and do as well for distillation as when gathered fresh, and it is to be observed that it is an error to suppose that the salt is of any further use in the distillation than to keep the leaves from spoiling. Perfumed tepid water for finger-glasses may be easily prepared by infusing a few fresh or dried rose-petals, lavender, or any other flower, in the morning for the purpose.
An early-Victorian still-room procedure written for a household that owned a copper still and a water bath. The chemistry is sound; the vocabulary and the assumptions about roses are what need translating.
- "Leaves" means petalsThroughout, leaves is the older usage for flower petals. Green foliage should not go into the still at all.
- Cutting the heelsThe "heel" is the pale, sometimes bitter white base where the petal joins the receptacle. Snipping it off is fussy work but it does keep a green, grassy note out of the finished water.
- Choose the rose, not just any roseThe strongly perfumed old varieties — damask and gallica types — are the sort this method assumes. Many modern hybrid teas and florist roses are bred for form and vase life rather than scent, and florist roses are routinely sprayed with pesticides not approved for food use. Use unsprayed garden petals only.
- The salt does one jobThe text is unusually clear on this and worth heeding: the salt is a preservative for the stored petals, nothing more. It contributes no flavour and is not a distillation aid, so there is no reason to add more than enough to layer the petals.
- "Empyreumatic"An old chemist's word for the acrid smell of organic matter scorched on hot metal. Here it signals that the petals are beginning to burn — the moment you smell it, the run is over and that phial goes out.
- Water bath, slow fireThe still sits in a pan of simmering water rather than over direct heat, which caps the temperature near 100C/212F and helps keep the scent from being scorched. Modern equivalent: a low, steady heat source, never a bare flame under a dry vessel.
- Collect in small portionsDecanting the run into several small phials rather than one receiver lets you smell each fraction and discard only what is spoiled. The first fraction is the most concentrated and the most fragrant.
- Keeping and yieldNo yield is given, and it varies with the roses. The advice to keep it cool, dark, and in small quantities is consistent with the way rose water loses its scent and spoils, faster in clear glass on a sunny shelf.
- Equipment and lawSmall stills are sold for essential oils and hydrosols, but in some countries possession or use of distilling apparatus requires a licence regardless of what is being distilled. Check local rules before buying one. Bottled culinary rose water, sold for Middle Eastern and Indian cooking, is a straightforward substitute in any recipe calling for it.
Water distillation of roses is generally traced to the perfumers and physicians of the medieval Islamic world Persian for rose water, is the root of the English word julep and it reached northern Europe as both a medicine and a flavouring. By the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries rose water was ordinary in English cookery, scenting marchpane, custards, cakes and sweet meats, and many substantial houses had a still-room where the mistress or housekeeper distilled waters, made cordials and preserved fruit. By the 1870s commercially distilled waters could be bought from a chemist. The closing note on scenting tepid water for finger-glasses shows another use to which rose water was still put on the dining table, in the ritual of rinsing one's fingers between courses.