A word from our residential herbalist, Sebastian Pole

The Bulgarian rose harvest

I am just back from a wonderful and exciting Bulgarian trip visiting our organic rose flower and rosewater suppliers and looking for future sources of incredible sustainable organic herbs for our Pukka products.

 It was my first trip to Bulgaria and even as my aeroplane began its descent flying over endless stretches of forests and lakes, I was struck by how beautiful this country is. One third mountains, Bulgaria is situated in the heart of the Balkan peninsula. It is a country famous for its ancient archaeological sites, as the birthplace of the Cyrillic script and for its enormous diversity of wildlife, wild herbs and flowers.

Poppies, camomile, mullein, blue cornflower, meadowsweet, St Johns Wort and milk thistle sit in open plains side by side with oak forests and walnut groves. Butterflies, swooping swallows and enormous storks fill the air as they enjoy and support this rich and diverse habitat.

Roses have been grown commercially for over 300 years in the central Bulgarian ‘valley of the roses ‘ and this is where I started my trip meeting our rose supplier whose grandfather set up the family rose growing business in 1909. Like all Bulgarian private companies it was taken over by the state during the communist era but after many decades it was returned to the family who consulted with the older locals to find  the location of the old rose growing sites. In a beautiful location in the lee of the mountains they began their enterprise again in an ideal environment for herb growing, at over 500meters above sea level the mountains shelter the tender young rosebushes,  protecting from frost and bringing in water. 

At the time of my visit in early June the rose harvest was in full swing. Rosa damascena, Rosa centifolia and Rosa alba all grow near each other making for a beautiful sight as their pink and white colours shimmer in the early morning sun. Local villagers and seasonal workers from the countryside gather in the fields shortly after sunrise and carefully pick only the fully open roses in the best condition; the early morning picking ensuring that the high essential oil content in the roses doesn’t evaporate under the warm sun. The large sacks filled with freshly-harvested roses are weighed on site and within 2 hours are at the nearby distillery to be made into rosewater and rose oil or at the drying facility to be dried as rose flowers for our Love and Refresh teas.

 Organic rose growing means no petro chemical fertilizers or pesticides are used which allows the wonderful diversity of nature to flourish in the rose fields; lavender, poppies and blue cornflowers are just a few of the colourful array of purple, red and blue wild flowers bordering the rosebushes. But no chemical pesticides and fertilizers also means a 50% lower flower yield than non-organic rose growing and leaves our supplier with very difficult problems such as the ‘agrillos’ infection whose presence can be detected by a swelling in the rose stem meaning that particular bush needs to be cut back losing the flowers for the rest of that season.

The roses grown for our rosewater and the special concentrated distillation give the rosewater a very high geraniol content which is unmistakeable as the classic rose smell and contributes to its inflammation reducing, skin toning, anti bacterial properties and enable us to make our products without preservatives. However roses are also particularly delicate and sensitive plants presenting a lot of challenges for the grower. One challenge is the weather; rain is vital for the plants but rain in the harvest season makes drying the plants very difficult and inclement weather means the need to adjust rose petal processing times on a daily basis. Watching our rose supplier at work at his most busy and stressful time of the year really brought it home to me that as organic rose growing means half the volume and twice the processing costs compared to non-organic, our rose water and the rosepetals used in our teas really are  extremely precious products !

We followed the roses for our Love and Refresh teas as they were driven the mile to the huge workshop of the drying facility where the rose heads are heated to remove humidity and then carefully airdried to retain the colour, aroma, flavour and essential oil content. After 24 hours at the drying facility and constant inspection the dried rose petals are shipped off to our UK base to be blended into our delicious teas!

Meanwhile the roses destined for our rosewater are driven one mile to a pristine distillery which still uses the original copper vats set up by our suppliers grandfather alongside more modern machinery. The intense heady scent of roses hangs in the air while the distillery workers move swiftly emptying tons of rose flowers and petals into  enormous stainless steel vats where they are steamed for 2 hours before the steam is sent to the cooler where it condenses and is collected as rosewater.

Unlike most rosewaters, at Pukka our rosewater is not a by product of essential oil production but comes from rose flowers only used for rosewater. As it takes a whole kilo of roses to make 1 litre of rosewater every drop is carefully collected as every one is infused with the sweet scent of the rose flowers.

The delicate beauty of roses are particularly suited to women’s health and are highly prized for their soothing strengthening effect on the emotional heart and for their skin cooling and nourishing properties. Rose oil is an even more labour intensive product as it takes 3.5 tons of petals to produce one litre of oil. The manufacturing process is similar to that of rosewater but the steam from the petals circulates for much longer until rose oil floats on top of the rosewater. I found out on this herb trip that rose oil  capsules have become a ‘ must have ‘ item for discerning Japanese women who swear that the daily swallowing of rose oil prevents body odour and gives them a deliciously fragrant ‘glow.!’ Perhaps another Pukka product for the pipeline?

Roses are an inspiration to us; they are strong, self-protecting and irresistibly beautiful. Long used throughout the world as cooling and astringing on the tissues they help to tone puffy skin, clear spots and soothing inflammation. A teaspoon of rosewater in a glass of cool water is quite simply one of the most delicious drinks in the world. Dried rose flowers in a hot tea are instantly soothing. Understanding quite how much hard work goes into growing, harvesting and preparing the roses helps me appreciate them even more.