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Bulgarian rose oil
and its technology
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An
original Bulgarian technology for rose planting was gradually
developed and adopted as a general practice in the past. It was
called kesme. No other cultivation method has been able to preserve the
character of the rose almost unchanged for over three centuries.
This fact explains why there were no attempts at cultivating other
rose varieties in the Rose Valley. The technology proved to be so
good that rose bushes were even |
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exported
to the Russian and the Turkish empires of the time. Distilling
equipments for rose oil were imported from Persia and Tunisia. Striving
to obtain rose water of better quality and of higher alcohol
content, in the course of the time people came to employ double
and then multiple distillation.
This
was a unique Bulgarian innovation in the technology of rose oil which made it
essentially different from the original one. |
| The multiple distillation technology was tested and
adopted on the analogy of method of stilling rakia (a kind of
Bulgarian brandy). Rose water of higher alcohol content was
obtained and, what is more important, the rose oil was produced.
The major types of oil-bearing roses used to be cultivated for the
purposes of attar extraction: the pink and the white rose. Until 1970, the pink rose plantations |
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brought
almost 90 per cent of the total output. White roses were preferred
for planting in higher altitudes. It is generally accepted that
there are more than 5000 varieties of roses, yet only a few of
them exhibit that market fragrance which is sought by perfumers.
The Bulgarian oil-bearing rose has been cultivated in the
Rose
Valley
for more than 300
years now.
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QUESTIONS/HELP?: info@rose-festival.com
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