POTPOURRIPreserved in jars or bowls, potpourris are delightful, old-fashioned combinations of fragrant flower petals and spices mixed together. When the lid is removed, the sweet garden scents are released for your enjoyment. The aroma of a potpourri depends only upon your imaginative blending of various flower petals, leaves, and oils. Many can be kept for years without losing their fragrance. The main ingredient of many potpourris is dried flower petals and fragrant leaves. The flowers of roses, lavender, lemon verbena, and rose geranium hold their fragrances best. Old-fashioned roses such as cabbage and damas rose de Provins, and moss roses are traditional favorites, but one of the fragrant modern types such as Etoile de Hollande, Crimson Glory, Texas Centennial, Chrysler Imperial, The Doctor, Radiance, Lowell Thomas, Tawny Gold, Tiffany, and Sutter's Gold may also be used. Although jasmine, mignonette, violet, and hyacinth have marvelous fragrances while the flowers are fresh, they lose their scent rapidly when dried. The dried leaves of lemon verbena, the mints, and other herbs such as rosemary, thyme, basil, and marjoram furnish other fragrances that you can use. Bits of citrus peel with the white membrane removed, cloves, allspice, ginger, nutmeg, and the crushed seeds of anise, caraway, cardamom, and coriander, and oils extracted from rosemary, bitter almond, citrus, and other fragrant plants can also be added. Spices, herbs, and oils that you don't have can be obtained from the seasoning shelves at grocery stores, herb shops, and drug stores. (Do not use the extracts on the spice shelves in grocery stores.) Never add too many different kinds of fragrances, especially oils, as they tend to counteract one another. Fixatives. To preserve and blend the aroma of the leaves and flowers, a fixative is added to the potpourri to absorb the vital oils and retard their evaporation. There are many different fixatives, some of which will contribute to the final fragrance. Orris root powder (from the root of the Florentine iris) and gum benzoin are usually the most readily available at health food stores, pharmacies, and herb shops. If none of these places have them, ask a phar, macist to order them for you. Fixatives generally come in a powdered or ground form; either will do but the powdered form tends to coat the inside of clear glass containers and mar their transparency.
Other fixatives include calamus powder, a derivative from the root of
sweet flag; storax, a balsam from the bark of Liquidambar orientalis or
Styrax officinalis; and animal derivatives such as musk, ambergris, and
civet. One ounce of fixative for every 2 quarts of petals is the
proportion generally used in most mixes. To dry the fragrant blossoms, remove petals from the flowers and spread them out thinly on newspaper, tissue paper, or-best of all-on a wire or cheesecloth screen for drying herb leaves. Place the petals in a warm, dry, shady spot where they will dry quickly and without appreciable loss of their fragrance. Since many fragrant flower petals lose their color during the drying and curing processes, other whole dried flowers often are added. Bee balm, cardinal flower, calendula, elecampane, nasturtium, yellow primrose, delphinium, larkspur, violets, pansy, jasmine, and bachelor buttons all retain their colors well when they are dried. Dry whole flowers (which are attractive in glass containers) by spreading about 9cm of borax or fine sand in the bottom of a box. Place the whole flowers face down, then carefully sift more sand or borax over them until they are covered. Keep the box in a warm, dry place until the flowers are completely dry- usually in about 2 weeks. Then gently remove flowers from sand and store them in a dark place so they will retain their colors until you want to use them. Assembling the Potpourri There are two ways of making potpourri: the dry method and a more complicated wet process. Dry potpourri. After the petals, herbs, and leaves are crisp and dry, mix them up thoroughly in a large bowl and blend in the other spices and oils, adding them a little at a time until the desired fragrance is obtained. Then add the fixative. After you have blended all ingredients together, store the potpourri in glass jars or other interesting containers and cover tightly. Choose glass bottles and bowls that will show off the colors. Here is a typical dry potpourri recipe.
Mix the first 9 ingredients together. Be sure that the petals and leaves are "chip" dry. Toss lightly as you add the remaining ones-a little at a time until the desired fragrance is attained. Let the mixture stand in sealed containers for 5 to 6 weeks, shaking them occasionally to blend the fragrances. Wet potpourri. When the flower petals are partially dry and feel leathery, pour them into a large, straight-sided crockery jar in 1cm layers alternated with sprinklings of coarse salt. Pack the salt and petals firmly and when the jar is Y4full, place a weight on the top to press them down. Do not place metal directly on the petals; instead, use a ceramic weight or place a plate on top of the mixture and set a metal weight on the plate. As soon as moisture drawn out by the salt rises to the top, stir up the petals and let them cure for ten days. During this period they should not be disturbed. The petals will form a moist cake; when you are ready to do the final blending, break it into small pieces. Since the salt removes the color from flower petals, this potpourri is best put into opaque jars. The fragrance of wet potpourri is very heavy, so these mixes usually are kept in tightly covered containers and opened when their fragrance is desired. The following recipe is representative of wet potpourri preparations.
1 ounce fixative (orris root, powdered gum benzoin, or i 2 ounce each) 5 drops of essential oil (rose geranium, patchoule, or orange blossom but never more than one) Mix the rose petals, lavender flowers, and herbs together and pack them in salt to make a moist cake as described above. When the mixture is cured, break up the cake very finely and blend it with the vanilla bean, nigella seeds, tangerine skin, and spices. Add the fixative and oil and pack the potpourri in opaque containers. Sweet herb potpourri. Here is a dry potpourri variation using only herbs to help you get started on a creation of your own.
Combine the ingredients and let them blend for a couple of weeks in a large sealed container before packaging in glass jars |
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