Charlottechicken Posted September 15, 2006 Share Posted September 15, 2006 I am going to try and make some home made pot pourri this year to give to friends as an extra gift, I want to make about 6 bagfuls. As there are plentiful supplies of natures goodies around now I want to know what I can use to make it really nice. So far I will be collecting pine cones, beech nut shells, maybe some shiny conkers and I will buy some oranges to use the peel (the rest will go into orange cake ). I think I may need something small in there as well to bulk it out? Any ideas what else I can use? The only thing is the ingredients have to be free, or really, really cheap. As I said I will be buying oranges, but have no idea how to dry the peel out, and I have some room fragrance oil I was hoping to put a few drops onto the pine cones to carry the fragrance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Frugal Posted September 15, 2006 Share Posted September 15, 2006 I make a Christmassy one for winter with pine cones, dried orange slices and orange peel and add some cheap spices from the health food shop - cloves, star anise and cinnamon sticks. It smells fab and gives a lovely Christmassy scent! Large supermarkets with Asian and Indian food sections have big tubs of cloves etc really cheaply. If you're in a multicultural area, sometimes the local markets also have stalls with bags of cheap spices which make smashing pot pourri fillers. Just thought of something free which would be nice in pot pourri - dried rosehips! Pop them on a tray in the airing cupboard or in a very low oven to dry and add! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlottechicken Posted September 17, 2006 Author Share Posted September 17, 2006 Thanks for the ideas Kate! I am drying pounds of rosehips in the oven (on low) as we speak, and the orange and lemon slices are already done, they were really easy! I also collected acorns, beech seed pods with seeds as they are so pretty, and some cones. These are all in the summer house drying at present. I found a jar of cloves left over from a long ago craft project (fabric padded Christmas tree decorations) so now all I need is some cinnamon and star anaise to finish off and I'm done! I have some old cinnamon powder I may dust over the bigger stuff to hold the scent Forgot to mention, found more sloes as well Couldn't leave them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theherd123 Posted September 21, 2006 Share Posted September 21, 2006 I feel very asking this but here goes! How do you dry the orange slices? In a low oven for a long time? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lesley Posted September 21, 2006 Share Posted September 21, 2006 ...or in a microwave, carefully. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlottechicken Posted September 21, 2006 Author Share Posted September 21, 2006 I feel very asking this but here goes! How do you dry the orange slices? In a low oven for a long time? Yes, very low heat, as low as you can get the oven to work on, then it takes hours, literally. Keep checking on them as they can burn quickly, and you lose the colour of the flesh that way. Keep them in till they are hard. I burnt a few of the lemon slices which was a shame, and they just went brown so not as easy as I thought, and mine are not yet rock hard so they may need to go back in for a while till I get the time and temperature right. Indulged in a bag of Tesco value lemons today to do more research on , only 48p for 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theherd123 Posted September 22, 2006 Share Posted September 22, 2006 Thanks guys! I will try this out when i get an oven! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lesley Posted September 23, 2006 Share Posted September 23, 2006 Should be soon now Emma? You can have my spare oven? We've just had a new one and it has a small 'slow cook' oven. I thought it was a complete waste of space but perhaps it's for making pot pourri!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theherd123 Posted September 23, 2006 Share Posted September 23, 2006 Kitchen should have been fitted last Monday but they forgot to book a fitter! Wont go into the whole story here as i will probably crash the site with all the bad language i would use! Needless to say i have been verbally abusing people at B&Q all week! It is now hoped they will fit the kitchen a week on Monday but a granite surface which didnt arrive will need to be fitted at a later date. So the bathroom is still in the dining room, the kitchen is in the lounge, & the kitchen is empty. I now know how people are pushed into comitting murder. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lesley Posted September 23, 2006 Share Posted September 23, 2006 Oh Emma! sorry to hear that. I've been there as well - with the microwave balancing on the fridge - all in the bedroom - and washing up in the shower Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theherd123 Posted September 24, 2006 Share Posted September 24, 2006 Yep Lesley you got it! Thats life for us at the moment, well has been for 3 months now! Told B&Q they have to pay for 2 hot meals a day for the pair of us - they have agreed to this as well as compensation when its all done but it still gets you down! Will hopefully have the oven in by Christmas & ready for that turkey! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
