(3 Jun 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Buta, Bulgaria - 28 May 2025
1. Various of tourist-rose-picker gathering rose flowers and smelling scent
2. Close-up of a rose picker's hands full of rose blossoms
3. Wide of a worker harvesting rose flowers
4. SOUNDBITE (Bulgarian) Veselina Ralcheva, Founder of InaEssentials company:
++PARTLY OVERLAID WITH SHOTS 1-3++
"We care deeply for the soil, for biodiversity, and for the purity of the plants. We take pride in producing something that people love—we receive amazing feedback from customers all the time. It’s fulfilling to know we’re creating something useful, providing local employment, and offering a clean, natural product that benefits people."
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Panagyurishte, Bulgaria - 28 May 2025
5. Close on roses
6. SOUNDBITE (Bulgarian) Andrey Mitov, President of the European Federation of Essential Oils:
++PARTLY OVERLAID WITH SHOT 7++
"Regarding potential U.S. tariffs, we’ll have to wait and see whether they are implemented or remain just talk. Not everything that is discussed actually happens. Should (U.S.) tariffs be imposed, the resulting price increase will fall on the importer. How this cost is managed further down the supply chain remains to be seen. As sellers, we are naturally concerned about the impact on our customers."
7. Workers fill distillation vessel with rose petals
8. Rose oil seen in Distilling Essential oil separator - the first oil in the distillery for the new season
9. Rose water seen during process of rose oil distillation
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Buta, Bulgaria - 28 May 2025
10. Close of rose oil tester
STORYLINE:
At the end of spring, the green fields in central Bulgaria change colour, from green into an endless pink carpet.
For centuries it's been a long awaited signal to the local farmers that the Damascena rose buds are ready to be harvested and processed into rose oil.
Veselina Ralcheva, a former music teacher, decided to switch careers two decades ago.
Since then, she and her husband have been running a family distillery in the central town of Panagyurishte producing organic rose oil.
In recent years unpredictable weather has affected the harvest.
In 2024 an extremely mild winter meant the harvesting season began almost a month ahead of the traditional schedule.
This year a cold spell may have impacted the quality of the flowers.
Damascena is a very delicate rose variety, and its petals must be as intact as possible to produce high quality oil, which requires a careful hand-picking process.
The oil extracted from Rosa Damascena, commonly known as the damask rose is widely considered to be the best for producing oil.
It's used as a base in many cosmetics and perfume all over the world.
Harvesting begins at 4 a.m. and usually ends at around 10 a.m., as the dew protects the rose petals from evaporation, and they're processed through steam distillation within 24 hours to yield the best quality and quantity of oil.
It takes som... [truncated]
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Video at Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJgbToFEvBo