Between Pride, Men’s Health, Father’s Day & the new federal holiday of Juneteenth, National Rose Month has a tendency to get lost. So I am here to remind you, June is National Rose Month So Bring on the Love
Although Roses are not my favorite flower (sunflowers are my fav), it is still one of the scents I love most. Any beauty product that has rose as an ingredient I go for.
That said not all rose scents are ideal for me. Further, when it’s obviously synthetic rose oil the smell can be quite putrid. Below are some of my favorite rose scents.
Come back tomorrow for my latest Wine & More Reviews where I do a Rosé challenge to find the best Rosé in my local store. New Wine & More Reviews Every Wednesday at 8:00 pm EST. In the mean time, June is National Rose Month So Bring on the Love!
A ROSE BY ANY OTHER NAME WOUld smell as sweet – William Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet
The name rose comes from Latin rosa, which was perhaps borrowed from Oscan, from Greek ρόδον rhódon (Aeolic βρόδον wródon), itself borrowed from Old Persianwrd- (wurdi), related to Avestanvarəδa, Sogdianward, Parthianwâr.
HISTORY OF ROSES
- A rose is 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 erect shrubs, climbing, or trailing, with stems that are often armed with sharp prickles.
- Flowers vary in size and shape and are usually large and showy, in colours ranging from white through yellows and reds. Most species are native to Asia, with smaller numbers native to Europe, North America, and northwestern Africa.
BREAKING IT DOWN
- Species, cultivars & hybrids are all widely grown for their beauty and often are fragrant. Roses have acquired cultural significance in many societies. Rose plants range in size from compact, miniature roses, to climbers that can reach seven meters in height. Different species hybridize easily, and this has been used in the development of the wide range of garden roses.
- The flowers of most species have five petals, with the exception of Rosa sericea, which usually has only four. Each petal is divided into two distinct lobes and is usually white or pink, though in a few species yellow or red.
- Beneath the petals are five sepals (or in the case of some Rosa sericea, four). These may be long enough to be visible when viewed from above and appear as green points alternating with the rounded petals. There are multiple superior ovaries that develop into achenes. Roses are insect-pollinated in nature.
PERFUME & BEAUTY
- Rose perfumes are made from rose oil (also called attar of roses), which is a mixture of volatile essential oils obtained by steam distilling the crushed petals of roses. An associated product is rose water which is used for cooking, cosmetics, medicine and religious practices. The production technique originated in Persia and then spread through Arabia and India, and more recently into eastern Europe. In Bulgaria, Iran and Germany, damask roses (Rosa × damascena ‘Trigintipetala’) are used. In other parts of the world Rosa × centifolia is commonly used.
- The oil is transparent pale yellow or yellow-grey in color. ‘Rose Absolute’ is solvent-extracted with hexane and produces a darker oil, dark yellow to orange in color. The weight of oil extracted is about one three-thousandth to one six-thousandth of the weight of the flowers; for example, about two thousand flowers are required to produce one gram of oil.
- The main constituents of attar of roses are the fragrant alcohols geraniol and L-citronellol and rose camphor, an odorless solid composed of alkanes, which separates from rose oil. β-Damascenone is also a significant contributor to the scent.
FOOD & DRINK
- Rosa canina hips
- Rose hips are occasionally made into jam, jelly, marmalade, and soup or are brewed for tea, primarily for their high vitamin C content. They are also pressed and filtered to make rose hip syrup. Rose hips are also used to produce rose hip seed oil, which is used in skin products and some makeup products.
- Rose water has a very distinctive flavour and is used in Middle Eastern, Persian, and South Asian cuisine—especially in sweets such as Turkish delight, barfi, baklava, halva, gulab jamun, kanafeh, and nougat. Petals or flower buds are sometimes used to flavour ordinary tea, or combined with other herbs to make herbal teas. A sweet preserve of rose petals called Gulkand is common in the Indian Subcontinent.
- In France, there is much use of rose syrup, most commonly made from an extract of rose petals. In the Indian subcontinent, Rooh Afza, a concentrated squash made with roses, is popular, as are rose-flavoured frozen desserts such as ice cream and kulfi.
- Rose flowers are used as food, also usually as flavouring or to add their scent to food. Other minor uses include candied rose petals.
- Rose creams (rose-flavoured fondant covered in chocolate, often topped with a crystallised rose petal) are a traditional English confectionery widely available from numerous producers in the UK.
Check out this scene from one of my favorite foreign Films Como agua para chocolate (1992) Like Water for Chocolate
Medicine
- The rose hip, usually from R. canina, is used as a minor source of vitamin C. The fruits of many species have significant levels of vitamins and have been used as a food supplement. Many roses have been used in herbal and folk medicines.
- Rosa chinensis has long been used in Chinese traditional medicine. This and other species have been used for stomach problems, and are being investigated for controlling cancer growth.
- In pre-modern medicine, diarrhodon (Gr διάρροδον, “compound of roses”, from ῥόδων, “of roses”) is a name given to various compounds in which red roses are an ingredient.
Purchase these Rainbow Roses HERE
