Community Pick
Christmas Scent
photo by SharonChen
- Ready In:
- 5mins
- Ingredients:
- 6
- Yields:
-
1 jar
ingredients
- 2 -4 tablespoons cloves (whole)
- 2 -4 cinnamon sticks
- 4 bay leaves
- 1⁄2 orange, sliced
- 1⁄2 lemon, sliced
- water
directions
- Add orange and lemon slices to dry mixture of spices. Put in a small sauce pan with 4 cups of water. Simmer on low to release the fragrance. Or, you can simmer it in a mini (2 qt.) crock pot with the lid off for a safer alternative.
- IF you simmer it for a few hours, you will need to add more water occasionally so it doesn't boil dry. Store in refrigerator when not in use, to prevent molding. It can be simmered over and over again! Always add more water to equal 4 cups before each use.
- TO GIVE AS A GIFT: put ingredients in a quart-sized decorative jar. Add enough water to fill jar. Add a few drops of red food coloring if desired. Close securely and give with a small gift tag explaining how to use it.
- Note, I prefer to use the lesser amount of cloves so that they don't overwhelm the other fragrances.
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Reviews
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Mmmm! We made this the day after Thanksgiving to have on while we put out Christmas decorations. It made our house smell soooo good and cheerful! My husband decided to try apple juice instead of the water and it enhanced the other smells a lot! Thanks for the awesome scent - we'll be using it a lot during the Christmas season now!
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A last minute decision found me at Walmart buying quart size Mason jars, a red/green plaid fabric remnant to line the tops & ribbon to tie on the instruction cards. I found inexpensive bulk spices at Henry's (a Wild Oats type market); added whole allspice & a sprig or two of fresh rosemary from the garden to the mixture, as it looks like evergreen! The final trick was to stud the oranges and lemons with cloves in a few concentric circles before slicing them...a bit time consuming, but we had the new Il Divo DVD playing in the background, so it was a pleasant excuse to “smell the roses� & improved the presentation a bit, IMHO. Since I’m rather sweet tooth impaired, this will make a nice party favor for the NYE guests and for Good Neighbor treats. Thanks so much for the idea!
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Tweaks
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The whole house smells wonderful! I did have to make a few adjustments, though, because our pantry was a little lacking. I used 2 Tbsp allspice instead of the cloves, and 1/2 a grapefruit instead of 1/2 an orange. The smell was so good I used the remaining lemon/grapefruit slices to make one batch as a gift. I do think I would cut down on the allspice/cloves a bit more though (maybe 1 - 1.5 Tbsp?), as I couldn't smell as much of the citrus as I wanted to.
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Mmmm! We made this the day after Thanksgiving to have on while we put out Christmas decorations. It made our house smell soooo good and cheerful! My husband decided to try apple juice instead of the water and it enhanced the other smells a lot! Thanks for the awesome scent - we'll be using it a lot during the Christmas season now!
RECIPE SUBMITTED BY
Marg (CaymanDesigns)
United States
With the changes to the email notifications and removal of private messaging, I am no longer able to respond to questions about my recipes. Yet another feature change that has made the website less user friendly. It's sad to watch a fantastic site deteriorate over the years. Some of my recipes are on my blog.