Distilling rose water is a link to the past.
Recipes featuring rose water can be traced to as early as the 8th century A.D., when early Persian and Arab cooks used it to season savory dishes or infuse sweets with a floral note. Eventually, rose permeated other cuisines and continues to be popular in pastry, Middle Eastern cooking, and South Asian dishes (for example, rose-scented gulab jamun, an Indian dessert).