Prized for its delicate beauty and intoxicating fragrance, rose buds and petals are a staple of potpourri blends and sachets. The rose has been valued for its beauty and its perfume for thousands of years. Because rose oil deteriorates rapidly with exposure to sun and wind, the content is highest on the first morning when the flower opens. Rose petals picked for distillation are picked manually, day by day, at or just before sunrise.
Roses were treasured in European medieval monestary gardens. Those blossoms cultivated to be rich in aromatic and medicinal constituents of the buds can be used to make a sweet tasting infusion to be drunk as a tea or applied, when cool, to the skin. Rose petals have an astringent action beneficial to both skin health (rose tea makes an excellent toner) and digestive function.* In addition to its aromatherapeutic benefits, homemade rosewater has been traditionally used to address depression and support healthy mood. Roses added to bathwater create a luxurious and restorative treatment for mind, body, and spirit.*