Perhaps you tried making rose perfume back in childhood, like I did? How did that go? I remember the eagerly collecting of rose petals into one of those classic green plastic containers for strawberries, pouring water over, and leaving it. Leaving it for a day, or more. Wisely, I thought, the longer brewing the better. What an excitement in the waiting, understanding that was part of the thorough process. Imagining making real perfume. Those few days longer went ahead. Then it was time. However, my project had started smelling badly, instead of lovely. It was not at all perfume! And, not at all to my expectations...
Years later, at the time my own children got interested in how perfume is made, I started investigating. Searching the internet for any useful information. However, no recipe was to be found. Not even a clue. Making perfume still appeared as a mysteriously kept scientific secret. So, we started experimenting. This is what we did:
We picked lovely smelling rose petals. Filled a boiler with a bit of water. Not too little, and not too much, as thinking the less water the weaker perfume. Then we added some citric acid (lemon juice used for tea) as preservative. (Minding, not to add too much or else the perfume would smell like lemon instead of rose!). Next, we added the petals, and left it lightly boiling under a lid, until the petals turned almost white, and the steam smelled lovely. Maybe for 15-30 minutes. Finally, we filtrated the liquid and poured it into a sterilized flask. Our perfume got a light lovely pink colour and smelled wonderful! Weeks later it still smelled lovely! This time out it was a success.
A nice little gift, rose perfume! Or even a birthday activity, letting all the guests bring their own little bottle of perfume back home!
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