From the third year of planting, a field of R. x damascena can yield about 1.5 tons of flowers per hectare. From the following years, and for about thirty years, up to 5 tons of rose flowers per hectare can be obtained.

Rose flowers are picked by hand, one by one. More precisely, rose flowers are harvested between 5 and 9 in the morning, as this is when the fragrance concentration is at its peak. Therefore, the flowers must be distilled quickly.

The second most common extraction technique is solvent extraction. This technique involves washing the flowers three times with a solvent. At the end of the extraction, the solvent is removed by vacuum evaporation. This process takes 5 hours and produces rose concrete, a semi-solid product concentrated in fragrances, pigments, and waxes. It is then necessary to treat this concrete with warm alcohol so that the pigments and waxes are removed. The alcohol is cooled between 0 and 10° and then filtered. Evaporated under vacuum, the alcohol yields a product highly concentrated in aromatic molecules (rose absolute). It takes about 400 kg of roses to obtain 1 kg of concrete and 1/2 kg of absolute.

To date, these two techniques coexist. Indeed, they allow obtaining products with different characteristics.

Since Antiquity, the rose has been used for its fragrance. Before distillation appeared, scented oils were obtained through enfleurage and maceration processes. The fall of Rome in the 5th century led to the decline of rose perfume use in Western Europe. However, the Crusaders revived its use in Europe. It was at the end of the 16th century that the distillation of rose flowers to produce rose essential oil began. To date, the global production of rose essential oil and concrete is estimated at around 15 tons. Bulgaria and Turkey are the two main producers (with 80% market share).

The Damask rose (Rosa x damascena Mill.) is the species most used to produce fragrant essential oil. The rose flower has about 30 petals. It is a very fragrant flower.

The rose originated in the Middle East. More precisely, cultivation and extraction techniques were imported from Anatolia in the 16th century.

At the end of the 17th century, essential oil production was established in the Kazanlik region of Bulgaria. This is why the cultivar, which is the source of the best rose essential oils, is named R. x damascena ‘Kazanlik’. The plain that hosts this cultivar is called the “Valley of Roses.”