Saturday, September 8, 2007

Autumn Potpourri


So I am making a homemade autumnal potpourri this weekend. Poor potpourri, it has such a bad reputation. All of those awful bags of prepackaged potpourri left out in grandma's house with their weird perfume that gets up your nose. I actually love the word potpourri. I like to sprinkle it about in conversation- i.e. "that was a strange potpourri of sounds." I also seem to recall from French class that it means "rotten pot."

Anyway, I am using a recipe from Naturally Clean Home again:

2 cups dried apple slices (I simply bought these)
1 cup bay leaves
1 cup sage
1/2 cup chopped (not peeled) gingerroot
1/2 cup whole cloves
8 1-inch cinnamon sticks

and am combining them in a glass jar. Basically, you shake the jar daily for about a month until it smells right to you, and then either display it nicely or simmer it in water. It also is lovely added to pillows or sachets.
I found an apple wood bowl on etsy to display it in. I'll have extra so I can think up other crazy things to do with it. I may work on a holiday mix to give to friends come this winter, but I suspect most of my friends and family aren't as scent-driven as I am.

(I don't have the glass jar yet. Sadly, I was just at Home Depot and Target today and I forgot.)

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