One of the great joys of this season for me is pomanders. Pomanders smell great, they’re easy to make and they last as long as they stay good and dry.

I love them.

I love them with the white hot intensity of a thousand suns–suns which I am desperate to see during this, the darkest part of the year.

It’s time to make some.

What you need:

• fruit: oranges, clementines, kumquats, apples, lemons, etc.
• whole cloves
• pointed toothpicks, skewers, etc. to poke the holes in the fruit
• powdered spices: cloves, allspice, cinnamon, orris root

Use the skewer to poke holes in the fruit. Leave a bit of space between the holes. [As the fruit dries, it will shrink and the holes will get closer together.]

Put a clove in each hole.

The fruit will ooze and get you all sticky. That’s part of the fun. You’ll smell great for days.

When you’ve covered the fruit with cloves, sprinkle them all over with powdered spices. I use equal amounts of ground cloves, allspice, cinnamon and orris root [dried, powdered iris root]. Use what you have. Don’t worry if you don’t have orris root.

If you have extra spice mix, put it in a jar–it will keep for next year.

Cover the pomanders completely with the spices. They’ll help dry the whole thing out.

Put them in an attractive bowl or arrangement and remember to turn them over every day or so to help them dry evenly.

Over the next few weeks, the pomanders will dry inside and out and become hard.

These stay good through the winter here in the Midwest. I toss them out when I do my spring cleaning in March, which is when things start getting wet and humid around here again.

Happy Holidays!

Robin from Rurification blogs at Rurification.

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