Remarkably, a bottle of Arq-e-Gulab sells for as little as Rs40 a litre and Abdul pours our souvenir into an empty plastic Coke bottle that we are carrying. Use of Arq Gulab mixed with lemon juice & glycerin colour become fair, Arq Gulab also use for skin beauty & freshness. Today, the trickle of clientele is mostly the faithful who come to the shrine next door and the odd tourist keen to buy a slice of history. All of it is done at home and all of it is done by hand, a time-consuming process but a true labour of love for an ancient craft that has come down through the centuries. Qarshi Arq-e-Gulab is a natural toner that cleanses your skin from deep within ridding it of any dirt, grime, or foreign bodies that can damage your skin. However, broadly, it involves the boiling of Kashmiri rose ( koshur gulab) petals and other herbs in a cauldron following which the vapours travel through a mass of coils where they are condensed and distilled. The actual technique for producing rosewater remains a closely guarded family secret handed down from generation to generation. Ironically Abdul’s own brother has just such a pharmacy right next door to Arq-e-Gulab. But now all of that is gone with the wind, crushed by the advent of modern medicine. These were popular as quick remedies for stomach and kidney ailments. Photo: Aaditya Kitrooīesides rosewater, the Kozghars (‘user of jars’, in Persian) used to produce and sell medicinal syrups extracted from valley flowers, musk, sandalwood, kewra and cinnamon.
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