Everyone wants their home to smell nice, but many feel they are forced to go a chemical route to get that smell. It’s especially difficult in the cold winter months where it’s hard to get things like fresh flowers to add that pleasant scent. I’m going to let you in on a secret of how to make a nice fruity-scented potpourri for pennies that is natural and family-friendly.
Making Your Homemade Potpourri
Supplies
- Fruit (almost any will do – I like apples and oranges – I like to do this when I’m making fruit salad so I’m not wasting the peels)
- Sharp Knife
- Cookie Sheet
- Cooling Rack
- Ziplock Baggie
- Salt
- Spices (any will do, but cinnamon, cloves, vanilla beans, and nutmeg are great)
Preparing Your Fruits
Cut citrus peels such as orange and lemon into small pieces no larger than 1/2″ wide. Cut them into thin slices no larger than 1/4″ thick. Slice apples, peaches and pears into thin slices no larger than 1/4″ thick. Save the peels and dehydrate these as well to add to your potpourri.
Drying Your Fruits
Place the cookie sheets with the fruit in the oven. Set the oven for 250ºF. Leave the fruit in the oven for 2 hours. If the fruit begins sizzling, turn the temperature down, or leave the oven door cracked to prevent the fruit from cooking. If you have a dehydrator, you can use that instead.
Check on them to see if they are dried. Remove pieces of fruit and squeeze them. If no moisture comes from the fruit and they feel rubbery, then you can set them off to the side while the others finish up.
Remove the remaining fruit from the oven and set the fruit on a rack to cool.
Assembling the Potpourri
Place all of the cooled dried fruit into a zipper lock plastic bag. Add 1 tablespoon of salt and one 1 tablespoon of spice(s) of your choice into the bag. Shake the bag to spread the spices over the fruit.
Allow the potpourri to set overnight. Then place the fruit potpourri in a container to enjoy the aroma.
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Can this be put into cellophane bags to be given as gifts or will the scent fade?
The scent lasts quite a long time. I think if you sealed the bags they would work great as gifts.
Hello, Can Dried slices of Peaches be mixed with Flower Potpourri that has essential oils in it for aroma? I was concerned about mold or the mixture of fruit, flowers and scent not working together due to natural chemical changes. Thank you
So long as the peaches are properly dehydrated, I can’t see why it wouldn’t work. If they were packed in syrup I would rinse before drying them just so you don’t attract ants.
I absolutely have no kind of spices nothing but brown sugar will that work?
I’d avoid sugar just because it might attract ants or other creepy crawlies and no one wants that lol.
Wow…this is SO neat! I honestly had no idea how to do this! FUN! Pinned!
Thanks for joining Cooking and Crafting with J & J!
In the Winter, we tossed our orange peels and a couple cinnamon sticks in a metal bowl with water, and place it on the wood stove. Such a lovely aroma!