Scents Add Cheer To Your Home

One of my favorite things to do around the holidays is creating holiday scents for the home.  It completes all the senses;  sight (holiday decorations), sound (holiday music), touch (evergreen tree branches), taste (holiday goodies) and smell (delicious scents for your home).  Personally, I prefer natural scents rather than those manufactured in store bought home fragrances or candles.

Holiday scents can be made easily with items you have in your home and kitchen.   Quickly add fragrance to your home using simmering waters and add spices, herbs, and fruit.  One of my favorites is cinnamon sticks, apples quartered and spiked with cloves.  I sometimes substitute the apples for orange peel.  Other suggestions are rosemary, vanilla, and lemon slices, and I strongly suggest when using spices, you choose whole spices such as cinnamon sticks, anise stars, allspice, cloves and vanilla beans.  Ginger with citrus is another great addition.

There are many ways to do this, but I prefer to put in a small saucepan on the back of my stove, bring to a simmer and then lower and allow it to sit all day.  I will check back every so often to add water.  NEVER LET YOUR PAN RUN OUT OF WATER.  Berndes saucepans are perfect for this because they are vacuum cast aluminum pans and once they come up to temperature, they hold their heat.  You don't have to keep lowering and raising the temperature to keep the beautiful scents flowing through your home.  

Experiment with different scents and find your favorite.  It helps eliminate the staleness a home can get while closed up during colder months.  

Happy Holiday Scents from Berndes.