Rose as a symbol of beauty, love and purity
The rose became a witness to love stories all over the world, as the custom developed for the bride to hold a rose bouquet that symbolizes beauty, love and purity. In the Tirol of Austria, the bridegroom offers roses to the bride. In France, on the morning of the wedding, the bride throws rose petals into a pond or a stream as a symbolic act of farewell to maiden life.
As seen here, the rose symbolizes "love" and generally conveys graceful beauty, but the yellow rose symbolizes "jealousy" which is perhaps due to its characteristic stimulating green scent.
Damask rose that symbolizes "contrasting beauty" has a rich and gorgeous scent. China rose that symbolizes "perpetually renewed beauty" has a refined scent of green violet. Japanese wild rose that symbolizes "recovery from agony" has a refreshingly sweet, powdery scent that is said to even cure the pains of unrequited love.
You might want to try conveying your message of love by a beautiful, fragrant bouquet of roses.
Why do women love roses?
In 6th century BC., the renowned lyric poet Anacreon of Greece sang that healing rose balm calms the heart that beats in agony.
According to 17th century pharmacologist N. Culpeper, "dried red rose petals in tincture or powder form will relieve heavy menstruation, hematemesis and other bleedings. Rose infusions in wine relieve headaches, toothaches, pain of the eyes, ears, throat and gums. It also cures pain in the abdomen and the uterus."
The remedial powers of the rose were also widely known in Asia. In the oldest known Chinese Book of Medicinal Plants, roses are deemed "effective for dropsy and constipation".
In recent years, our research proved that the rose flower contains Vitamin A, C and P and has medicinal effects such as relieving stress-induced fatigue, stiff shoulders, insomnia, stomachache and nervousness. And aside from all its medicinal effects, a bouquet of roses can certainly ease a stressful day and make your life much brighter.
Rose: queen of perfume
Did you know that most perfumes contain roses in their fragrance composition? Marilyn Monroe was probably unaware that the famous Chanel fragrance she wore to bed also contained rose essences.
Today, perfumes are made by blending 100 to 700 different types of essences. The type of essences blended as well as their composition are trade secrets. "White Rose Natural" is one of Shiseido's representative rose fragrances.
Jasmine is called King, and Rose the Queen of the numerous flowers that exude essential oils. Unlike jasmine whose strong scent is cherished by some but disliked by others, the rose enjoys unanimous popularity. It blends naturally with most other essences to help create the scent of one's preference.
Enjoy the taste of roses
Fragrant, blooming roses are not only pleasing to the eyes, but highly palatable as well. Have a taste of lovely roses, just like Cleopatra did at her table.
1. Rose Liquor
Such fragrant roses as "Oklahoma", "Papa Meilland" and "Charles Mallerin" are best suited for liquor because they have a deep, exuberant aroma typical of Damask roses. Several different species can be combined to produce tasty aromatic liquor.
Ingredients: 1.8 liter white liquor (35°), 50-100g crystal sugar, 120-150g rose petals
Directions:
1) On a sunny day, pull a handful of rose petals (enjoy the bloom first and use the ones past full bloom), off the stem and place them in a wide-mouthed jar.
2) Fill the jar with crystal sugar and white liquor, tightly close the lid and store in a cool dark place for about 30 days.
The liquor can be served with ice or soda. A slice of lemon will bring back bright color to the darkened petals.
2. Rose jam
A fragrant, pleasantly sour jam of smooth texture.
Ingredients: 100g rose petals, 150-200g sugar, 1 and a half lemon, 100 cc water
Directions:
1) Cut off the pale base of the petals using scissors.
2) Wash the petals and wring well. Sprinkle lemon juice (1 lemon) and knead well.
3) Mix 100 cc water and sugar in a saucepan to make syrup.
4) Add the kneaded rose petals into the saucepan and simmer for 15 minutes. Remove pan from fire, pour in the remaining lemon juice (half a lemon) and stir well.
5) Leave to sit for two hours and simmer again.
(Recipes from "Engei Tsushin", Sakata no Tane Publishing, 1988)
These fragrant delicacies will add a rosy mood to your afternoon tea time.
Describing aroma: difficulty of putting scent into words
When studying and analyzing the scent of roses, difficulty arises in describing each smell.
The initial impression is usually described using such literary terms as "gorgeous", "fresh", and "passionate". There also are adjectives like "sweet" and "sour", commonly used to describe tastes. Then, there are the basic terms for fragrance such as "green note" or "powdery note." Scents are also commonly compared to popular flowers and fruits such as "lemon-like" or "evoking violet". Chemical names for odoriferous substances like "geraniol" or "phenethylalcohol" can be used as well.
As an example, here is how the fragrance of "Papa Meilland" was described when it won first prize in the 1995 Rose Fragrance Contest.
"Its scent is rich in geraniol and nerol, which is a quality unique to Damask modern. It also has a strong, fresh green note, sweetness of fresh honey, and is highly fragrant."
What kind of fragrance can you imagine, hearing this description?
Roses in half-bloom smell best
Shiseido researchers involved in fragrance research divided the rose flower into four stages - budding, early half-bloom, late half-bloom and full bloom - and made qualitative and quantitative analyses of the aromatic content at each growth stage. Taking three petals from each flower, they studied when the fragrance became the strongest.
The result was that the buds contain a high level of Dimethoxymethylbenzene, so the freshness of the green note is emphasized. For the first few minutes of the stage of early half-bloom, sweetness and freshness harmonize to produce an exquisite scent. But in the stage of late half-bloom, when the flower is considered most beautiful, the fragrance level was found to already be on the decline. Now we know that the fragrance of the rose is at its peak in the stage of early half-bloom.
The unattainable blue rose
The characteristic fragrance of the rose is gorgeous and enticingly deep at once, and its shapely flower is just as charming. The ideal rose is supposed to have a "high center and pointed flower petals." Although many colors - red, white, yellow - were developed in the course of history, "Blue" remains close to impossible.
This is why "Blue Rose" means something unattainable. The Meilland family of France who are distinguished breeders attained this goal by the breeding of a blue rose named "Charles De Gaulle". Its fragrance could be described as a sophisticated mixture of the sweet Damask modern scent and a soft tea-like scent of tea roses. But the color of the flower itself is more like violet than blue.
Fragrance research begins and ends with the rose
Many aspects of rose fragrance still remain unknown. At the moment, more than 540 aromatic elements are known to be contained in the rose, but the fragrance of the rose cannot be recreated by artificially mixing them together.
From over 1000 types of modern roses, Shiseido selected 200 fragrant species and conducted detailed analysis of them. As a result, several new aromatic substances were discovered. One of them is dimethoxymethylbenzene, which has a spicy, powdery scent in addition to a moist green odor. This substance by itself is not too pleasant, but its masked scent enhances the fragrance of the rose.
Shiseido continues to conduct research on the scent of the rose.
Make a secret promise under the rose
Having the responsibility of concealing the love affair of Mother Venus, Cupid sent roses to Harpocrates, the God of Silence, asking him to keep the secret.
From then on, the rose became a symbol of privacy.
In Europe, a fresh rose would symbolically hang on the door of the City Council to indicate sub rosa , or secret.
In England, there is a custom to place a sword on a table filled with roses when holding a committee to elect the Mayor of London.
Fragrance of modern roses can be classified into 6 types
Shiseido conducted a detailed analysis of over 1000 types of modern roses and classified their scent into six types.
• Damask Classic
The typical scent of the rose, comprised of strong and sweet Rosa centifolia that becomes an essence base, and the exuberant scent of Rosa gallica.
• Damask Modern
Basically the same as Damask Classic, but since its composition is different, it gives off a more passionate, sophisticated scent.
• Scent of Tea
The scent of hybrid tea roses that opened the door to modern roses. Its scent is refined and graceful with the base note of green violet. Many modern roses have this type of scent.
• Fruity Scent
Has the characteristics of both Damask Classic and the Tea Rose, and gives off the aroma of peach, apricot and apple.
• Blue Scent
Roses of a unique blue scent have the characteristics of both Damask Modern and Tea.
• Spicy Scent
The strong scent of cloves is contained in the scent of Damask Classic.
Each rose is a compound of multiple scents, and may also contain essences attributed to other flowers. We expect that advances in fragrance research will further uncover the mysteries of the modern rose.
Invention of alcohol preserved the scent of the rose
It is understandable that as the enchanting scent of the rose became widely known, many attempts were made to preserve it. From the Roman era to the present, all kinds of efforts have been made to exude the fragrance of the rose.
The initial attempt was to make a rose-scented preparation by steeping rose petals in water so as to transfer the scent.
Sometime during this process, perhaps accidentally exposed to sunlight, the temperature of the bottle went up more than usual.
To everyone's surprise, heat precipitated its oil content and made some of it come up to the surface. This was the birth of rose oil, which gave much stronger and longer-lasting scent compared to rose water.
Perfume-making techniques improved drastically through the invention and employment of alcohol.
In 12th century monasteries, alcohol was made by distilling wine. People discovered that highly pure essential oil could be obtained from flowers by exuding it with alcohol.
Venus and Roses: beauties of heaven and earth
Renaissance painter Botticelli is famous for such masterpieces as "Primavera" and "Birth of Venus" that evoke both love and spirituality and project an ideal womanly beauty.
But have you noticed in these paintings that dainty rose petals are blowing in the wind? The rose petals depicted in these paintings are of a different kind from the modern garden rose. They are R. alba and R. centifolia, both of which are original species.
The name "centifolia" means "100 petals". Does its blossom really have that many petals? A Shiseido perfumer counted the petals of two Centifolia roses and confirmed that the name was true to its form, since there were 101 petals on one, and 113 petals on the other.
