Essential oils in Morocco

Last week The View from Fez reported from the Rose Festival at El Kelaa M'Gouna in southern Morocco. But what exactly happens to all those roses that are harvested each May?

hedgerows of roses

The first time Helen Ranger came to Morocco, it was to explore the Valley of the Roses near El Kelaa M'Gouna and take a look at the rose fields. Morocco is famous throughout the world for its superb rose oil that's known as rose otto (from the Arabic itr, meaning perfume).

The roses are not farmed in fields as you might see in the south of France around Grasse, but are simply hedgerow plants that bloom once a year. French essential oil producers descend on the area at harvest time and set up stills in the fields. Thousands of tons of petals of rosa damascena are distilled in the big copper pots. Rosewater is the main product, but it's the essential oil, in fact a byproduct of the process, that is so valuable. That's taken back to France and sold to perfume and cosmetic houses; it's extremely expensive. The retail price of just 3ml, or half a teaspoon, costs over 150 Euros. The essential oil is extremely difficult to find in Morocco, and simply isn't available in El Kelaa M'Gouna at all. But you can find rosewater and lots of pink face and body creams.

copper still at the Rose Festival, El Kelaa M'Gouna

In countryside homes, it's not unusual to see whole rooms knee-deep in rosebuds and petals that are left to dry. Moroccan women use rosewater on their faces (it's great for combatting wrinkles!), and the dried buds can be mixed with ghassoul (clay) in facial and hair products. It's also used in flower water shakers at celebrations, and spice merchants add dried buds to ras el-hanoot, used in cooking. Rosewater from El Kelaa M'Gouna is available everywhere in the Fez medina and is very cheap (around Dh10 for a 200ml bottle). Moroccans make their own rosewater at this time of year, when you can see shops selling nothing but rosepetals, and small zinc stills are widely available.

But it's not just rose oil that Morocco is famous for. The country produces some of the best cedarwood essential oil in the world (cedrus atlanticus). While cedarwood trees can grow to a magnificent size, they're often small and gnarled, piercing through in rocky ground and crevices, and grow to a great age. The oil is superb, like all tree oils, for respiratory problems.

cedar tree in the High Atlas

Orange blossoms are also distilled, and orange flower water is used in the same way as rosewater. There's no orange blossom essential oil though, as this is not a product of distillation but of steeping the blossoms in animal fat to produce an absolute, also known as neroli. But the oranges themselves produce an excellent essences made from the skins.

Where to buy essential oils in Morocco? One of the best places is Herboristerie Firdaous in Marrakech. Si Mohamed and his sister Saida source excellent essential oils including spearmint, peppermint, rosemary, eucalyptus, thyme, basil, lavender and lots of different citrus oils.


They also stock soaps, incense and wonderful vegetable oils including argan, jojoba, grapeseed, avocado, almond and more unusual carriers such as courgette pip. This tiny shop, in a kissariat or small shopping centre off Avenue Prince Moulay Rachid between Djemaa El-Fna and the Hotel Tazi, has shelves full of thousands of tiny bottles and smells fantastic.

Saida at Herboristerie Firdaous, Marrakech

Tags: Moroccan Morocco Fes, Maghreb news