Reference point
A deep pink heirloom rose picked in the morning.
Do this before you read on. An entry only works when you have just smelled the thing.
Sweet, waxy, with a slightly zesty opening and a honeyed layer at the end. Much lighter and clearer than imported roses.
Heirloom roses and imported cut roses are completely different in smell. Imported varieties are bred for shape and stem strength, and over decades of breeding the scent was all but abandoned. Many bunches of roses in florists’ shops today have no scent at all.
The zesty note at the start is something few people notice. It comes from light compounds that evaporate in the first few minutes, and only freshly picked flowers still have it.
How to smell it
Pick an heirloom rose early in the morning and smell it right at the bush. Then smell a rose bought from a florist. The gap between the two is the story of the whole modern flower industry.
Why this one is hard
Because the image of a rose is so strong that people believe they are smelling rose even when the flower has no scent.
Don’t confuse with
This entry
Vietnamese heirloom rose
Floral family
The heirloom rose has 2-phenylethanol, giving a honey note; osmanthus has lactones, giving a ripe-apricot note and a creamy feel. One is sweet like honey, the other sweet like cream.
Scientific note
Heirloom roses are rich in 2-phenylethanol, an aromatic alcohol boiling at around 219 degrees. The same compound is found in honey and in yeast-leavened bread — three unrelated sources, one molecule. It is also a by-product of yeast fermentation, so the rose note in fresh bread is not a coincidence but the same chemical root.
In Vietnamese life
Heirloom roses are grown in Hung Yen and some areas around Hanoi, mainly for offerings and for scenting tea. They are almost absent from the cut-flower market because their petals are thin and wilt quickly.