ATTAR
(AT-uhr)
A
fragrant essential oil obtained from flowers Common clues:
Essence of roses; Rose oil; Oil of rose petals, e.g.; Fragrant
oil; Perfume; Rose extract; Essential oil; It makes
scents Crossword
puzzle frequency:
3 times a year Video: Rose
Oil
Rose
oil, meaning either rose otto (attar of rose, attar of roses) or
rose absolute, is the essential oil extracted from the petals of
various types of rose. Rose ottos are extracted through steam
distillation, while rose absolutes are obtained through solvent
extraction or supercritical carbon dioxide extraction, with the
absolute being used more commonly in perfumery. Even with their
high price and the advent of organic synthesis, rose oils are
still perhaps the most widely used essential oil in perfumery.
[Courtesy:
Michael
W. Davidson]
Photographed with a molecular microscope by the Florida State
University, USA the exquisite and heavenly colors of pure rose
attar are seen here at the crystalline level.
Due
to the labor-intensive production process and the low content of
oil in the rose blooms, rose oil commands a very high price.
Harvesting of flowers is done by hand in the morning before
sunrise and material is distilled the same day.
In
the process of distillation, large stills, traditionally of
copper, are filled with roses and water. The still is fired for
60–105 minutes. The vaporized water and rose oil exit the
still and enter a condensing apparatus and are then collected in
a flask. This distillation yields a very concentrated oil, direct
oil, which makes up about 20% of the final product. The water
which condenses along with the oil is drained off and
redistilled, cohobation, in order to obtain the water-soluble
fractions of the rose oil such as phenyl ethyl alcohol which are
a vital component of the aroma and which make up the large bulk,
80%, of the oil. The two oils are combined and make the final
rose otto.
Rose
otto is usually dark olive-green in color and will form white
crystals at normal room temperature which disappear when the oil
is gently warmed. It will tend to become more viscous at lower
temperatures due to this crystallization of some of its
components.
The
essence has a very strong odor, but is pleasant when diluted and
used for perfume. Attar of roses was once made in India, Persia,
Syria, and the Ottoman Empire. The Rose Valley in Bulgaria, near
the town of Kazanlak, is among the major producers of attar of
roses in the world.
Due
to the heat required for distillation, some of the compounds
extracted from the rose undergo denaturing or chemical breakdown.
As such, rose otto does not smell very similar to "fresh"
roses.
The
hydrosol portion of the distillate is known as rosewater. This
inexpensive by-product is used widely as a food flavoring as well
as in skin care.
This
article is licensed under the GNU
Free Documentation License.
It uses material from the Wikipedia
article "Rose oil".
|