Rose water ( fa, گلاب) is a flavoured water made by steeping rose petals in water. It is the hydrosol portion of the distillate of

rose A rose is either a woody perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred species and tens of thousands of cultivars. They form a group of plants that can be ...

petal Petals are modified leaves that surround the reproductive parts of flowers. They are often brightly colored or unusually shaped to attract pollinators. All of the petals of a flower are collectively known as the ''corolla''. Petals are usuall ...

s, a

by-product A by-product or byproduct is a secondary product derived from a production process, manufacturing process or chemical reaction; it is not the primary product or service being produced. A by-product can be useful and marketable or it can be consid ...

of the production of rose oil for use in

perfume Perfume (, ; french: parfum) is a mixture of fragrant essential oils or aroma compounds (fragrances), fixatives and solvents, usually in liquid form, used to give the human body, animals, food, objects, and living-spaces an agreeable scent ...

. Rose water is also used to flavour food, as a component in some cosmetic and medical preparations, and for religious purposes throughout

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...

and

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

. Rose syrup (not to be confused with rose hip syrup) is a syrup made from rose water, with sugar added.

Gulkand Gulkand (also written gulqand or gulkhand) is a sweet preserve of rose petals originating in the Indian subcontinent. The term is derived from Persian; ''gul'' (rose) and ''qand'' (sugar/sweet). Preparation Traditionally, gulkand has been prep ...

South Asia South Asia is the southern subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The region consists of the countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.;;;;; ...

is a syrupy mashed rose mixture. Central Iran is home to the annual

Golabgiri Golabgiri ("making Rosewater") is a ceremony taking place annually from mid-May to mid-June in Kashan, Isfahan Province, Iran. The ceremony takes place throughout Kashan county, in Ghamsar, Niasar Neyasar ( fa, نياسر, also Romanized as Ni� ...

festival each spring. Thousands of tourists visit the area to celebrate the rose harvest for the production of ''golâb'' ().

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

accounts for 90% of world production of rose water.

History

Since ancient times, roses have been used medicinally, nutritionally, and as a source of perfume. Rose perfumes are made from rose oil, also called '' attar of roses'', which is a mixture of volatile

essential oil An essential oil is a concentrated hydrophobic liquid containing volatile (easily evaporated at normal temperatures) chemical compounds from plants. Essential oils are also known as volatile oils, ethereal oils, aetheroleum, or simply as the o ...

s obtained by steam-distilling the crushed petals of roses. Rose water is a by-product of this process. The cultivation of various fragrant flowers for obtaining perfumes, including rose water, likely originated in Persia, where it was known as ''gulāb'' (), from ''gul'' ( flower) and ''ab'' ( water). The term was adopted into

Medieval Greek Medieval Greek (also known as Middle Greek, Byzantine Greek, or Romaic) is the stage of the Greek language between the end of classical antiquity in the 5th–6th centuries and the end of the Middle Ages, conventionally dated to the Ottoman c ...

as ''zoulápin''. The process of creating rose water through steam distillation was refined by Persian chemists in the medieval Islamic world which led to more efficient and economic uses for perfumery industries.

Uses

Food

Rose water is sometimes added to lemonade. It is often added to water to mask unpleasant odours and flavours. In South Asian cuisine, rose water is a common ingredient in sweets such as laddu, gulab jamun, and

peda Peda () or Pera is a sweet dish hailing from the Indian subcontinent. It originated from Mathura, Uttar Pradesh, India. Usually prepared in thick, semi-soft, its main ingredients are khoa, sugar and traditional flavorings including cardamom s ...

. It is also used to flavour

milk Milk is a white liquid food produced by the mammary glands of mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals (including breastfed human infants) before they are able to digest solid food. Immune factors and immune-modulat ...

, lassi, rice pudding, and other dairy dishes. In

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federal constitutional monarchy consists of thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two regions: Peninsular Malaysia and Borneo's East Mal ...

and

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

, sweet red-tinted rose water is mixed with milk, making a sweet pink drink called

bandung Bandung ( su, ᮘᮔ᮪ᮓᮥᮀ, Bandung, ; ) is the capital city of the Indonesian province of West Java. It has a population of 2,452,943 within its city limits according to the official estimates as at mid 2021, making it the fourth most ...

. American and European bakers often used rose water until the 19th century, when

vanilla Vanilla is a spice derived from orchids of the genus '' Vanilla'', primarily obtained from pods of the Mexican species, flat-leaved vanilla ('' V. planifolia''). Pollination is required to make the plants produce the fruit from whic ...

became popular. In

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

, rose water has long been used as a flavouring for the regional specialty, Yorkshire curd tart. In

, it is added to tea, ice cream, cookies, and other sweets. Rosewater is also used in some savoury dishes, such as Khoresh Gheymé, Shirin Polow (cherry rice), Tahchin or during steaming of Persian rice. In

Middle Eastern cuisine Middle Eastern cuisine or West Asian cuisine includes Arab, Armenian, Assyrian, Azerbaijani, Cypriot, Egyptian, Georgian, Iranian, Iraqi, Israeli, Kurdish, Lebanese, Palestinian and Turkish cuisines. Common ingredients include olives ...

s, rosewater is used in various dishes, especially in sweets such as

Turkish delight Turkish delight or lokum ( ota, لوقوم) is a family of confections based on a gel of starch and sugar. Premium varieties consist largely of chopped dates, pistachios, hazelnuts or walnuts bound by the gel; traditional varieties are often fl ...

, nougat, and

baklava Baklava (, or ; ota, باقلوا ) is a layered pastry dessert made of filo pastry, filled with chopped nuts, and sweetened with syrup or honey. It was one of the most popular sweet pastries of Ottoman cuisine. The pre- Ottoman origin of t ...

Marzipan Marzipan is a confection consisting primarily of sugar, honey, and almond meal (ground almonds), sometimes augmented with almond oil or extract. It is often made into sweets; common uses are chocolate-covered marzipan and small marzipan imit ...

has long been flavoured with rose water. In Cyprus,

Mahaleb Mahleb or Mahlepi is an aromatic spice made from the seeds of a species of cherry, ''Prunus mahaleb'' (the Mahaleb or St Lucie cherry). The cherry stones are cracked to extract the seed kernel, which is about 5 mm diameter, soft and chewy ...

's Cypriot version known as μαχαλεπί, uses rose water (ροδόσταγμα). Rose water is frequently used as a halal substitute for red wine and other alcohols in cooking. The

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

offer a rose water-based beverage as an alternative for champagne when awarding Muslim players. In accordance with the ban on alcohol consumption in Islamic countries, rose water is used instead of champagne on the podium of the

Bahrain Grand Prix The Bahrain Grand Prix ( ar, جائزة البحرين الكبرى), officially known as the Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix for sponsorship reasons, is a Formula One motor racing event in Bahrain. The first race took place at the Bahrain Interna ...

and Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Cosmetics

medieval Europe In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

, rose water was used to wash hands at a meal table during feasts. Rose water is a usual component of

. Rose water

ointment A topical medication is a medication that is applied to a particular place on or in the body. Most often topical medication means application to body surfaces such as the skin or mucous membranes to treat ailments via a large range of classes ...

is occasionally used as an

emollient A moisturizer, or emollient, is a cosmetic preparation used for protecting, moisturizing, and lubricating the skin. These functions are normally performed by sebum produced by healthy skin. The word "emollient" is derived from the Latin verb ''m ...

, and rose water is sometimes used in cosmetics such as cold creams, toners and face wash. Some people use rose water as a spray applied directly to the face as a perfume and moisturiser, especially during the winter. It is also often sprinkled in Indian weddings to welcome guests.

Religion

Rose water is used in the religious ceremonies of

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global popula ...

(in the

Eastern Orthodox Church The Eastern Orthodox Church, also called the Orthodox Church, is the second-largest Christian church, with approximately 220 million baptized members. It operates as a communion of autocephalous churches, each governed by its bishops via ...

Zoroastrianism Zoroastrianism is an Iranian religion and one of the world's oldest organized faiths, based on the teachings of the Iranian-speaking prophet Zoroaster. It has a dualistic cosmology of good and evil within the framework of a monotheisti ...

, and

Baháʼí Faith The Baháʼí Faith is a religion founded in the 19th century that teaches the essential worth of all religions and the unity of all people. Established by Baháʼu'lláh in the 19th century, it initially developed in Iran and parts of the ...

(in Kitab-i-Aqdas 1:76).

Composition

Depending on the origin and manufacturing method, rose water is obtained from the

sepals A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 The term ''sepalum'' was coined ...

and petals of ''

Rosa × damascena ''Rosa'' × ''damascena'' (Latin for damascene rose), more commonly known as the Damask rose, or sometimes as Bulgarian rose, Turkish rose, Taif rose, Arab rose, Ispahan rose and Castile rose, is a rose hybrid, derived from ''Rosa gallica'' and ...

'' through

steam distillation Steam distillation is a separation process that consists in distilling water together with other volatile and non-volatile components. The steam from the boiling water carries the vapor of the volatiles to a condenser; both are cooled and re ...

. The following monoterpenoid and

alkane In organic chemistry, an alkane, or paraffin (a historical trivial name that also has other meanings), is an acyclic saturated hydrocarbon. In other words, an alkane consists of hydrogen and carbon atoms arranged in a tree structure in wh ...

components can be identified with

gas chromatography Gas chromatography (GC) is a common type of chromatography used in analytical chemistry for separating and analyzing compounds that can be vaporized without decomposition. Typical uses of GC include testing the purity of a particular substanc ...

: mostly citronellol, nonadecane,

geraniol Geraniol is a monoterpenoid and an alcohol. It is the primary component of citronella oil and is a primary component of rose oil, palmarosa oil. It is a colorless oil, although commercial samples can appear yellow. It has low solubility in w ...

and phenyl ethyl alcohol, and also henicosane, 9-nonadecen, eicosane,

linalool Linalool () refers to two enantiomers of a naturally occurring terpene alcohol found in many flowers and spice plants. Linalool has multiple commercial applications, the majority of which are based on its pleasant scent (floral, with a touch of ...

, citronellyl acetate, methyleugenol, heptadecane, pentadecane, docosane, nerol, disiloxane, octadecane, and

pentacosane Higher alkanes are alkanes having nine or more carbon atoms. Nonane is the lightest alkane to have a flash point above 25 °C, and is not classified as dangerously flammable. The term ''higher alkanes'' is sometimes used literally as "alkanes ...

. Usually, phenylethyl alcohol is responsible for the typical odour of rose water but is not always present in rose water products.

Gallery

File:Golab being make in Meymand - Fars 11.jpg File:Golab being make in Qamsar - Kashan 18.jpg File:Golab being make in Qamsar - Kashan 09.jpg File:Golab being make in Meymand - Fars 08.jpg File:Golab being make in Meymand - Fars 19.jpg

References

External links

{{Authority control Ancient Greek cuisine Arab cuisine Food ingredients Middle Eastern cuisine Roses Syrup Herbal distillates Azerbaijani cuisine Ark of Taste foods Iranian cuisine Indian cuisine Turkish cuisine