apothecary Posted December 6, 2005 Our rose bushes are going really well, in fact, most of the plants in my garden are doing good. A lot of the flowers smell rediculously good and I would like to attempt making some essences for use on trips and rolls. When is the best time to harvest rosesfor essences? When they are still "buds" or once they are fully open? How exactly do you make an essence? For some unknown reason I thought it was just an ethanol soak that you reduce a little to concentrate the smell, but in this case, how do you remove that ethanol smell? Anyone with experiences on essences, please post about them also Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AndyAmine. Posted December 6, 2005 AFOAF used to extract them for saop making and would do it via steam distilation. You may find that you need an awful lot of rose flowers though, the reason Rose essence tends to be quite expensive is because of this reason. Good luck mate, drop me a line if you need any more help. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
simon_marklar Posted December 7, 2005 i have a distillation setup, and use that to get the essences out of herbs. i basically sit it in water, heat it up, collect the distillation then put that through a sep. funnel to get the essence. i was shown how to do it using a proper essence extractor (not a soxlet, was told they often burn the essence) which was basically my setup but with a sep funnel/water return bit so that the water circulated, but im pretty sure my method works, but if someone sees something wrong with that method, pls let me know. i just bodged it together with parts that i had on hand not sure whens the best time to pick roses, but you are going to need alot of them im currently waiting for my fennell plant to be big enough so i can pull it out and get the essence from that. boy, do i love that smell :D Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
apothecary Posted December 7, 2005 How do you collect the distillation? Is distillation just a fancy word for steam in this case? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AndyAmine. Posted December 7, 2005 Sort of, the water/solvent/rose petels gets heated up in inside flask via a water/oil bath, then the steam gets passed from the flask down a water cooled condenser where it turns back into a solution and drips into your recieving vessel. Hope that helps you suome.. jst MSN me if you want any further advice. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
simon_marklar Posted December 7, 2005 How do you collect the distillation? Is distillation just a fancy word for steam in this case? yep. distillation is the process, but i call whatever comes over through the condenser 'the distillation'. its just a lazy way of saying "the distillation of roses with steam" it collects in the receiver flask just like a normal distillation, except it has water+essence in it. i then pour this into a sep. funnel and seperate the essence (aka the soul of the plant ) from the water. if im running low on water i'll put this seperated water back into the flask holding the plant. of course, this is labour intensive, but i cant afford one of the fancy proper glass attachments. (donate now for simon's fancy proper glass fund! click here! no here! ok, over there then.) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AndyAmine. Posted December 7, 2005 I believe the correct term is "disillate" LOL Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
simon_marklar Posted December 7, 2005 I believe the correct term is "disillate" LOL hahah yes, you are right i cant beleive i forgot that! i'd be interested to know how much rose petals are needed for this... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
