Attar, also known as “itra” or “ittar”, has been in India for thousands of years.
Pure and natural attars are derived from different kinds of flowers (rose, kewra, chameli, bela, marigold, jasmine, lavende and so on), from grasses such as vetiver, and herbs and spices (cardamom, cloves, saffron, juniper berry, jatamansi and the like) by the traditional approach of steam distillation in a copper vessel.
Traditionally, sandalwood oil is used as the base to make quality attars but it can make the product quite costly. This is why foodgrade oils are now used as the base to make attars more affordable.
