As I’m writing this our house smells like….you guessed it…Christmas!!! Stovetop potpourris seem to be the “in” thing these days, replacing seasonal candles and old school potpourri, and I am totally on board! Basically you gather a handful of ingredients, put them in a saucepan with water to simmer, and enjoy the fresh, seasonal smells that perfume your entire house. What I’ve done here is taken our favorite stovetop potpourri and preserved it using our food dehydrator. Then we jarred individual portions to give as gifts and to keep on hand during the holidays. Now whenever we’re in the mood, we put a pot of water on to simmer, add our homemade potpourri and enjoy the smells of Christmas!
Ingredients:
- 4-5 apple slices
- 4-5 orange slices
- 2 lemon slices
- 1 small handful of dried cranberries
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1 whole nutmeg
- a pinch of whole cloves (~10 cloves)
To dehydrate the apple, orange, and lemon slices, you’ll want to cut them very thin…especially the citrus. (.5 cm or less) Expect the fruit to take up to 12 hours to dry completely. Check them often.
After the fruit is dehydrated, add it to a jar with the other ingredients.
Add a tag with instructions for your friends, and your gift is set! Such a sweet gift for teachers and neighbors!
Be sure to make lots of extra to use in your own home over the holidays! Enjoy!!!
I don’t have a dehydrator:( Any suggestions on using an oven to dehydrate the fruit?