Sunday, November 3, 2013

Making your own Rosewater, Without Distilling

This tutorial will detail how to make your own Rosewater, without distilling.  This method makes more like a rose tea, with a beautiful dark pink color.
Rosewater is an amazingly beneficial addition to your skin care routine. It can be used to cleanse, tone and moisturize the skin. I'm often too lazy to properly clean my face and I find that a little rosewater on a cotton ball keeps my acne prone skin surprisingly happy. I usually use a mix if rosewater and witch hazel. The witch hazel helps preserve the water somewhat, but with out an actual preservative you should refrigerate your rosewater and use in 1-2 weeks. I plan to use most of this rosewater as the water component for a face cream, so I will be preserving the cream with phenonip. Otherwise it would not last long and could harbor dangerous microbes. Anyway, I'd be happy to answer any preservation questions you may have. Let's get back to making our rosewater.
I picked my rose petals from my own garden, so I know they are pesticide free. I sterilized my large jar with a bleach solution washed up really well. Gloves are always a good idea. I shredded the rose petals into the jar by hand, pushing down as I go. One colander of rose petals fills one jar pretty well.
Now because I'm making a product for sale, it is really important to sterilize everything and to use distilled water. Also this makes the rosewater last longer even if you aren't preserving it. However, if you just want to make some for yourself and don't want to make a trip to the store for distilled water, your filtered water it probably fine. After sterilizing my tea kettle with bleach solution, I fill it with enough distilled water to fill my jar and boil it. 
I fill my jar all the way up with boiling water (make sure your jar is heat safe). As I'm filling, I use a skewer or chopstick to push the petals down and remove air bubbles
Once your jar is full, put the lid on and leave it until it cools.  This takes at least a few hours. When the jar is cool, you are ready to strain your rosewater. I sterilized my bowl and colander. Set the colander inside the bowl and line the colander with cheesecloth. Then start pouring your rosewater
When I get down to the bottom, and it seems like there's no water left, I scoop the rose petals out into the cheesecloth, fold it up and squeeze. This make sure you get all your precious water. 
The beautiful color and aroma is completely natural. At this point I like to add witch hazel for a great toner. You can also add rose essential oil, but the oil will float and need to be mixed in by shaking with each use. To maximize shelf life, store in a cool dry place, out of the sunlight, or in the fridge. It will last 1-4 weeks. 

I used this rosewater as the water component in a lotion. This is what my lotion looks like while still cooling (hence, no cap). What an amazing skin treat. 
Hope you enjoyed the tutorial.  Please let me know if you try it and feel free to ask any questions. 

Visit my Etsy Store for more fun, handmade beauty treats.

18 comments:

  1. Thank you for the tutorial, this is great! :) I've never done this before, but does the rosewater always turns red color even though you mix various colors of rose petals?

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    1. Yes it should get at least some color, as long as you use some dark colored roses. This batch was about 1/8 red and the rest evenly mixed yellow, pink, orange and white. If you use all white I would expect no color. If you have only pink, the color will probably be lighter.

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  2. Thanks for this easy tutorial! Roughly how much witch hazel do you add per jar of rosewater - and how large is your jar? I can't quite tell. Thank you!

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  3. Is it possible to add phenonip to the rosewater or is that not recommended?

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  4. hello~ may I know how long can be last for the rose water? around 2 weeks? after use can we keep in the fridge?

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  5. hello~ may I know how long can be last for the rose water? around 2 weeks? after use can we keep in the fridge?

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  6. Can I use knockout roses as well? Thanks.

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  7. How long is rosewater good for is preserved in the refrigerator?

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  8. how long does rosewater lasts if stored in a glass covered bottle in the fridge. I use a separate glass spray bottle for daily use and refill.

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  9. I have a jar of homemade rise water in my fridge( made myself)
    Its sealed tightly and is 7 years old is it still good to use ,irs been refrigerated continously , and never opened

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  10. Hi! Would adding a little perfumers alcohol make it last longer?

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  11. It was very nicely explained and very helpful but how can we preserve rose water for a longer time ? Please do share .

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  12. Hello,

    I'm curious how Teak Naturals claims to have 100% all natural rose water with a shelf life of 2 years and yet every one I see with a blog says 2 weeks (except you) max! What are your thoughts?

    Thanks,
    Aurora

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  13. Would the outcome of the disaster still be good without filtered or distilled water?

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  14. This is very useful information because I did not know what to use if i don't have distilled. Now I know. Thank you very much.

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  15. I did this using light pink rose petals but it turned a light, tea-like color. Did I do something wrong or is that just from using the light colored petals? Also your instructions don't give any water-to-petals ratio....?

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  16. Hi this has been helpful can vitamin e work as a preservative?

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  17. Hi, Really very helpful Article. I regularly used rosewater for my skin. And specially homemade rosewater is very effective on skin. very nice blog. Thank you for sharing such an informative tips.

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