How to Extract Oil From Dried Rose Petals at Home
Throughout history, the rose has been called the queen of flowers. The ancient Greeks said that the rose was created by the gods. Cleopatra covered the floors of her palaces with rose petals. Later, Napoleon presented each of his officers with bagfuls of roses to boil in water as a curative. Rose oil is among the most expensive of the aromatic oils to produce, because it is so labor-intensive to extract. It takes over 200 pounds of rose petals to produce one ounce of rose oil.
Things You'll Need
- Enamel pan
- 2 lbs. rose petals
- Square of clean cotton cloth that is larger than the enamel pan
- Large piece of string
- Dish
- Cooking syringe
- Water
- Ice
- 1 oz. glass bottle
Instructions
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1
Fill an enamel pan with water.
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2
Place a large folded piece of cloth over the pan and tie it tightly around the lip of the pan to keep it in place.
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3
Place rose petals on top of the cloth.
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4
Place the dish on top of the rose petals and fill with ice. Set the pan to boiling.
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5
Continue to refill the dish with ice to keep it cool. Draw water off of the dish with a cooking syringe. The process will cause the dried petals to "sweat" rose oil. The cloth will absorb the oil.
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6
Wring the oil out of the cloth and into a glass bottle.
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1
Tips & Warnings
Although you can extract rose oil from dried petals, it will be an oil of inferior quality. For a better quality oil, use fresh petals from flower buds that have been picked in the morning after the dew has dried.
