Rose

A perfumer needs 60,000 rose to procure 1 ounce of pure essential oil. While this statisticcertainly intimidates, at home you can capture the fragrance of the oil from a far lesser number of roses.By soaking petal as in vegetable oil, you can make a rose- scented oil. Make rose water by bruising petals in water, heating the mixture gently for a few minutes, and then leaving it to infuse for a few hours. ( see the entries Scents from Herbs and Lotions from Herbs for information on making fragrant oils and waters.) Of course, pure rose oil can be purchased if you don't have the time or the number of roses to produce your own rose fragrances. (See the entry Scents from Herbs for a list of companies that sell essential oils.) You can also capture the fragrance of rose in potpourris and sachets. In fact, rose are one of the most common ingredients in potpourris. Again, the species mentioned above are considered the most fragrant.