Rose oil

Rose oil, also sold as rose otto, attar of roses or rose essence, is an essential oil taken from the petals of various kinds of rose. Steam distillation of the petals gives rose otto, while solvent extraction gives rose absolute, which perfumers use more often. A third route, supercritical carbon dioxide extraction, yields a concrete that may be sold under several names. The yield is very small, roughly one part of oil from three thousand parts of petals, so the oil is expensive and is often extended with geranium or palmarosa oils. The main commercial producers of the damask rose oil are Bulgaria, Turkey and Saudi Arabia. Rose oil is chiefly a perfumery material, but its by-product rosewater is widely used as a food flavoring. Sources suggest the production technique was invented in ancient Iran.