• Distillation Method: Solvent
• Country of Origin: Morocco
• Plant Part: Flowers
• Latin name: Rosa damascena
• Cultivation: Organic
• Note: Middle

About the Absolute: This Rose absolute brings out the subtle depth and fresh, classic floral notes we expect from high-end rose oil. Most Rose absolutes are produced in Morocco, in the valleys between the High Atlas and Jbel Sarhro mountains east of Marrakech. Rose oil is widely used in aromatherapy, while the rose absolute would be best suited for perfumery. The aroma offers relaxing properties without sedative effects. In TCM, the rose is cool and moist, clears heat and inflammation, and helps to restore the body's yin energy.

Absolutes are generally used in the perfumery industry or for aromatic purposes due to the richness of the aroma when compared to essential oil, which often is sought for therapeutic use.  The rose is one of the most complex chemically speaking. A little can go a long way. Tip: Rose absolute is very concentrated.  It's recommended to put into a 10% dilution with a carrier oil or perfumer's alcohol prior to use.

The damask rose is a hardy, deciduous, bushy shrub with a height and spread of up to two meters (six feet). It has grey-green foliage and fragrant double flowers, pink in bud and fading to almost white in blossom. Also called summer damask, Turkish, and Bulgarian rose, it requires very specific soil and climate. 

Aroma:   It is this complex, full-bodied rose absolute that is reminiscent of a field of blooming roses direct from Morocco. 

Chemistry: Rose oil has an extraordinarily complex chemistry, with over 300 known constituents, which make up about 86% of the whole. The remaining 14% comprises a large number of different compounds, each in minuscule amounts, but they are vital to the whole oil, both from the point of view of its aroma and its therapeutic properties.

Versus Bulgarian: The Moroccan absolute has a sweeter floral aroma and a lower viscosity than the Bulgarian absolute.

Rose blends well with most oils; commonly combined with bergamot, cedar, chamomile, clary sage, jasmine, lavender, lemon, sandalwood, vetiver, and ylang-ylang.

Other Insights: Three main products are obtained from roses: essential oil, concrete, and an absolute. The essential oil is obtained by steam distillation of the whole flowers, the concrete by solvent extraction of the leaves and flowers, and an absolute by further extracting the concrete. Not considered the main product, but rather a by-product, rosewater is the aqueous portion of steam distillation after the rose oil is removed. 

About Absolutes: Rose absolute is extracted using a delicate and laborious method similar to 'enfleurage' (the pressing of petals in fat to produce an extract). The rose essence is slowly extracted using pure alcohol, eventually producing a wax-like 'concrete'. A second extraction of the concrete produces the absolute. This method is more efficient than steam distillation, producing nearly seven pounds of oil per 10,000 pounds of roses (distillation yields only one pound of oil per 10,000 pounds of roses) and has a correspondingly lower cost than the steam distilled oils. Absolutes have a more 'complete' aroma, i.e. more true to the flower. Note: Absolutes are obtained by solvent extraction. Solvent extraction produces a more complete plant extract than steam distillation. However, some minute traces of solvent may remain in the final absolute. For some aromatherapists, this is a deterrent to the use of rose absolute. Others believe that rose absolute is preferable to rose otto essential oil because the chemical constituents of rose absolute are identical to the live rose, whereas in rose otto essential oil there are constituents present that are by-products of the steam distillation and not found in the rose itself.