Damask Rose
Rich, fresh rose petals with a honeyed sweetness, soft spice, and a faint lemony brightness.
You may know it from Rose water or Turkish delight
Where it comes from
Steam-distilled or solvent-extracted from Damask rose petals.
Botanical name: Rosa × damascena
About damask rose
The name points to Syria, but genetic testing suggests the plant came from the foothills of central Asia or Iran. A French Crusader, Robert de Brie, is sometimes credited with bringing the damask rose from Syria to Europe.
The bushes bloom once a year, from May to June, so the harvest is short. It can last as long as a month in cooler conditions and as little as 16 to 20 days in hotter seasons. The producer Biolandes says the flowers are distilled or extracted within 24 hours of picking. One review puts the world's rose oil at about 4.5 tonnes a year, and a Bulgarian festival site quotes the price of a kilogram at 6,500 to 7,000 euro.
A petal harvest becomes four things: rose oil, rose water, rose concrete and rose absolute. Steam distillation gives the oil, called otto, while solvent extraction gives the concrete and the absolute. The oil and the water do not smell the same. The blog Ayala's Smelly Blog explains that phenylethyl alcohol stays mostly in the distillation water and is largely responsible for the fine aroma of rosewater.
A University of Bristol chemistry page raises a puzzle about beta-damascenone, one of the molecules behind the smell. It may not exist in fresh petals at all, and the page says it must be formed from a precursor compound, possibly by heating.
Biolandes describes its damask rose oil as having warm, metallic aldehyde notes that combine with lemony effects. The same producer lists food among the uses, where the oil gives slightly sulfurous-fruity floral notes to drinks and candies.
Accords it shows up in
How many of the fragrances listing Damask Rose in our catalogue also carry each accord. We counted this ourselves.
Often paired with
The notes that appear next to Damask Rose most often in our catalogue.
Well-known fragrances with Damask Rose
Fragrances that list it in their notes, most-rated first.
Houses that use it most
Ranked by how many of their well-known fragrances list Damask Rose.