Seasonal Aromatics:
Blending for Memorable Holidays
Our sense of smell has the power to transport the majority of us instantaneously into the midst of family celebrations for Thanksgiving and Christmas.
All we need is a whiff of mandarin or orange, a sniff of pine, fir or spruce, a snuffle of cinnamon or clove, a suggestion of nutmeg, vanilla and sage, a smidgin of bay, or allspice, a hint of frankincense or myrrh, a whisp of apple-like chamomile, or trace of warming cardamom or sweet marjoram and we have the ingredients to create indelible, happy-heirloom memories for ourselves and our
loved ones.
Try the following ingredients for your seasonal recipes:
Citrus
Mandarin - Citrus reticulata - for a sweet, gentle evocative, juicy note
Orange, sweet - Citrus sinensis, or Citrus aurantium var. dulcis, p.o. fruit/zest - uplifting, soothing
Orange, bitter - Citrus aurantium var. amara, p.o. zest/fruit
Trees
Pine - Pinus sylvestris, or P. nigra, P. pinaster
Fir - Abies sibirica
Spruce - P. marinara
Cedarwood - Cedrus atlantica
Sandalwood - Santalum album
Resins
Frankincense, or Olibanum - Boswellia carterii
Myrrh - Commiphora molmol
Benzoin - Styrax benzoin - gives a vanilla-like note
Spices
Clove - Eugenia caryophyllata or Syzygium aromaticum
Cinnamon - Cinnamomum zeylanicum
Cardamom - Elletaria cardamomum
Coriander - Coriandrum sativum
Bay Laurel - Laurus nobilis
Herbs
Sage - Salvia officinalis
Clary sage - Salvia sclarea
Sweet marjoram - Origanum majorana
Chamomile, Roman - Anthemis nobilis
Recipes
Ambient room spritzer -
to create a welcoming and warming invitation to stay. Dilute in 250 ml of water in a clean dark glass bottle with a pump dispenser.
Pine 10 drops
Mandarin 15 drops
Cinnamon 5 drops
Or
Roman chamomile 10 drops
Sweet marjoram 10 drops
Benzoin resinoid 10 drops
Or
Frankincense 10 drops
Myrrh 10 drops
Benzoin 10 drops
Or
Cedarwood 7 drops
Sandalwood 15 drops
Benzoin 7 drops
Or
Fir or Spruce 10 drops
Orange, bitter 10 drops
Clary Sage 5 drops
Aromatic Firewood
Use the following in a diffuser or add to pine cones to pile up near the fire, but not too close. Remember essential oils are volatile and therefore flammable. The warmth from the fire in the grate will help to diffuse the essential oils into the room.
Don't add more essential oil blend to the pine cones whilst the fire is burning.
Either have the cones on a plate or in a shallow dish and move them away from the fire as you top them up with your aromatic blend, or wait until the fire is out. Blend the oils neat into a small bottle and then add 10 drops at a time. Enough for 4 applications.
Try:
Clove 10 drops
Sweet Orange 20 drops
Coriander ` 10 drops
Or
Nutmeg 10 drops
Mandarin 25 drops
Allspice or Bay Laurel 10 drops
Or
Fir or Spruce 15 drops
Orange Sweet 20 drops
Cinnamon 10 drops
Or
Frankincense 10 drops
Sandalwood 20 drops
Roman chamomile 15 drops
Celebration Candles
You can make your own fragrant candles by waiting until the wax has begun to melt after lighting. Then add a couple of drops of your blend to the melted wax at the base of the wick. Mind you don't drop the essential oil directly onto the flame though.
If this is a little dodgy for you, then you can melt an old, spent candle in an old basin over a pot of boiling water. Once melted, add your fragrant blend to the wax and then taking a paintbrush or old makeup brush (not one of your best ones), and then paint your posh candles with a layer or two of this. Leave to harden and enjoy as you light for a celebratory dinner, the run up to Christmas Eve, or that intimate evening in front of the fire. You could even paste a layer of flowers or leaves or sparkly-decorations and fix in place with the aromatic wax. These make very special gifts.
Aromatic Herbal Oils
Select a decorative bottle with a screw-top or cork, some fancy ribbon or raffia, fresh herbs and/or spices of your choice, and your
essential oils of course.
Add the fresh herbs and spices to the bottle and top up with pure, cold-pressed vegetable oil. Choose virgin, cold-pressed olive oil, sunflower, pure light sesame, hazelnut, or other oil without a smell too distinctive of its own.
Top your bottle up with the oil, and then add your essential oils.
Select herbal or spice essential oils and blend up to a maximum of 25 drops to a liter of oil.
Therefore, you would use 12 - 13 drops to 500ml, 5 - 6 drops to 250
mls, and so on.
You will close your bottle tightly and leave on a sunny windowsill to infuse for a week. Smell and check the strength of the herbs, spices and essential oils and add more herbs, spices and essential oils if you feel its appropriate. Remember though, you will be using this for salad dressings, stir-frying, and other savory culinary masterpieces so just use enough to fragrance and flavor the carrier oil, and not obliterate it.
Use citrus oils of lime, lemon, orange, grapefruit. Herbs of basil, tarragon, rosemary, sage and sweet thyme. Spices of fennel, dill, nutmeg, ginger, clove, coriander, and even peppermint or spearmint.
More Recipes
Add to 1/2 fluid ounce of either jojoba oil or the highest proof alcohol you can find. Add 5% distilled water for a weaker blend.
Oriental Seasonal Blend
Patchouli - Pogostemon cablin 5 drops
Frankincense - Boswellia carterii 5 drops
Rose otto - Rosa centifolia or Rosa damascena 5 drops Coriander - Coriandrum sativum 3 drops
Floral Seasonal Blend
Neroli - Citrus aurantium var. amara flowers 5 drops Rose otto - Rosa centifolia or Rosa damascena 5 drops Jasmin Absolute - Jasminum officinale 5 drops Ylang Ylang - Cananga odorate var. genuina Extra 5 drops Lavender, Apline - Lavandula vera (L. officinalis) 5 drops Benzoin resinoid - Styrax benzoin 5 drops
Candy for The Holidays
Cinnamon - Cinnamomum zeylanicum 1 drops
Sweet orange - Citrus sinensis 10 drops
Nutmeg - Myristica fragrans 1 drop
Benzoin - Styrax benzoin 5 drops
Spice Pot
Coriander - Corandrum sativum 2 drops
Nutmeg - Myristica fragrans 1 drop
Cinnamon - Cinnamomum zeylanicum 2 drops
Clove - Syzygium aromaticum 2 drops
Lemon - Citrus limonum 20 drops
Mandarin - Citrus reticulata 20 drops
Grapefruit - Citrus paradisi 10 drops
Bay Laurel - Laurus nobilis 5 drops
Black Pepper - Piper nigrum 2 drops
Thanksgiving Fields
Patchouli - Pogostemon cablin 2 drops
Lemongrass - Cymbopogon citratus 2 drops
Lemon - Citrus limonum 4 drops
Roman chamomile - Anthemis nobilis 4 drops
Sweet Marjoram - Origanum majorana 2 drops
Autumn Forests
Patchouli - Pogostemon cablin 5 drops
Clary sage - Salvia sclarea 4 drops
Sandalwood - Santalum album 8 drops
Galbanum, Spikenard or Frankincense 2 drops
Or
Patchouli - Pogostemon cablin 6 drops
Clary sage - Salvia sclarea 4 drops
Cypress - Cupressus semperivens 3 drops
Grapefruit - Citrus paradisi 3 drops
Petitgrain - Citrus aurantium var. amara p.o.leaves 2 drops
-source unknown
Blending for Memorable Holidays
Our sense of smell has the power to transport the majority of us instantaneously into the midst of family celebrations for Thanksgiving and Christmas.
All we need is a whiff of mandarin or orange, a sniff of pine, fir or spruce, a snuffle of cinnamon or clove, a suggestion of nutmeg, vanilla and sage, a smidgin of bay, or allspice, a hint of frankincense or myrrh, a whisp of apple-like chamomile, or trace of warming cardamom or sweet marjoram and we have the ingredients to create indelible, happy-heirloom memories for ourselves and our
loved ones.
Try the following ingredients for your seasonal recipes:
Citrus
Mandarin - Citrus reticulata - for a sweet, gentle evocative, juicy note
Orange, sweet - Citrus sinensis, or Citrus aurantium var. dulcis, p.o. fruit/zest - uplifting, soothing
Orange, bitter - Citrus aurantium var. amara, p.o. zest/fruit
Trees
Pine - Pinus sylvestris, or P. nigra, P. pinaster
Fir - Abies sibirica
Spruce - P. marinara
Cedarwood - Cedrus atlantica
Sandalwood - Santalum album
Resins
Frankincense, or Olibanum - Boswellia carterii
Myrrh - Commiphora molmol
Benzoin - Styrax benzoin - gives a vanilla-like note
Spices
Clove - Eugenia caryophyllata or Syzygium aromaticum
Cinnamon - Cinnamomum zeylanicum
Cardamom - Elletaria cardamomum
Coriander - Coriandrum sativum
Bay Laurel - Laurus nobilis
Herbs
Sage - Salvia officinalis
Clary sage - Salvia sclarea
Sweet marjoram - Origanum majorana
Chamomile, Roman - Anthemis nobilis
Recipes
Ambient room spritzer -
to create a welcoming and warming invitation to stay. Dilute in 250 ml of water in a clean dark glass bottle with a pump dispenser.
Pine 10 drops
Mandarin 15 drops
Cinnamon 5 drops
Or
Roman chamomile 10 drops
Sweet marjoram 10 drops
Benzoin resinoid 10 drops
Or
Frankincense 10 drops
Myrrh 10 drops
Benzoin 10 drops
Or
Cedarwood 7 drops
Sandalwood 15 drops
Benzoin 7 drops
Or
Fir or Spruce 10 drops
Orange, bitter 10 drops
Clary Sage 5 drops
Aromatic Firewood
Use the following in a diffuser or add to pine cones to pile up near the fire, but not too close. Remember essential oils are volatile and therefore flammable. The warmth from the fire in the grate will help to diffuse the essential oils into the room.
Don't add more essential oil blend to the pine cones whilst the fire is burning.
Either have the cones on a plate or in a shallow dish and move them away from the fire as you top them up with your aromatic blend, or wait until the fire is out. Blend the oils neat into a small bottle and then add 10 drops at a time. Enough for 4 applications.
Try:
Clove 10 drops
Sweet Orange 20 drops
Coriander ` 10 drops
Or
Nutmeg 10 drops
Mandarin 25 drops
Allspice or Bay Laurel 10 drops
Or
Fir or Spruce 15 drops
Orange Sweet 20 drops
Cinnamon 10 drops
Or
Frankincense 10 drops
Sandalwood 20 drops
Roman chamomile 15 drops
Celebration Candles
You can make your own fragrant candles by waiting until the wax has begun to melt after lighting. Then add a couple of drops of your blend to the melted wax at the base of the wick. Mind you don't drop the essential oil directly onto the flame though.
If this is a little dodgy for you, then you can melt an old, spent candle in an old basin over a pot of boiling water. Once melted, add your fragrant blend to the wax and then taking a paintbrush or old makeup brush (not one of your best ones), and then paint your posh candles with a layer or two of this. Leave to harden and enjoy as you light for a celebratory dinner, the run up to Christmas Eve, or that intimate evening in front of the fire. You could even paste a layer of flowers or leaves or sparkly-decorations and fix in place with the aromatic wax. These make very special gifts.
Aromatic Herbal Oils
Select a decorative bottle with a screw-top or cork, some fancy ribbon or raffia, fresh herbs and/or spices of your choice, and your
essential oils of course.
Add the fresh herbs and spices to the bottle and top up with pure, cold-pressed vegetable oil. Choose virgin, cold-pressed olive oil, sunflower, pure light sesame, hazelnut, or other oil without a smell too distinctive of its own.
Top your bottle up with the oil, and then add your essential oils.
Select herbal or spice essential oils and blend up to a maximum of 25 drops to a liter of oil.
Therefore, you would use 12 - 13 drops to 500ml, 5 - 6 drops to 250
mls, and so on.
You will close your bottle tightly and leave on a sunny windowsill to infuse for a week. Smell and check the strength of the herbs, spices and essential oils and add more herbs, spices and essential oils if you feel its appropriate. Remember though, you will be using this for salad dressings, stir-frying, and other savory culinary masterpieces so just use enough to fragrance and flavor the carrier oil, and not obliterate it.
Use citrus oils of lime, lemon, orange, grapefruit. Herbs of basil, tarragon, rosemary, sage and sweet thyme. Spices of fennel, dill, nutmeg, ginger, clove, coriander, and even peppermint or spearmint.
More Recipes
Add to 1/2 fluid ounce of either jojoba oil or the highest proof alcohol you can find. Add 5% distilled water for a weaker blend.
Oriental Seasonal Blend
Patchouli - Pogostemon cablin 5 drops
Frankincense - Boswellia carterii 5 drops
Rose otto - Rosa centifolia or Rosa damascena 5 drops Coriander - Coriandrum sativum 3 drops
Floral Seasonal Blend
Neroli - Citrus aurantium var. amara flowers 5 drops Rose otto - Rosa centifolia or Rosa damascena 5 drops Jasmin Absolute - Jasminum officinale 5 drops Ylang Ylang - Cananga odorate var. genuina Extra 5 drops Lavender, Apline - Lavandula vera (L. officinalis) 5 drops Benzoin resinoid - Styrax benzoin 5 drops
Candy for The Holidays
Cinnamon - Cinnamomum zeylanicum 1 drops
Sweet orange - Citrus sinensis 10 drops
Nutmeg - Myristica fragrans 1 drop
Benzoin - Styrax benzoin 5 drops
Spice Pot
Coriander - Corandrum sativum 2 drops
Nutmeg - Myristica fragrans 1 drop
Cinnamon - Cinnamomum zeylanicum 2 drops
Clove - Syzygium aromaticum 2 drops
Lemon - Citrus limonum 20 drops
Mandarin - Citrus reticulata 20 drops
Grapefruit - Citrus paradisi 10 drops
Bay Laurel - Laurus nobilis 5 drops
Black Pepper - Piper nigrum 2 drops
Thanksgiving Fields
Patchouli - Pogostemon cablin 2 drops
Lemongrass - Cymbopogon citratus 2 drops
Lemon - Citrus limonum 4 drops
Roman chamomile - Anthemis nobilis 4 drops
Sweet Marjoram - Origanum majorana 2 drops
Autumn Forests
Patchouli - Pogostemon cablin 5 drops
Clary sage - Salvia sclarea 4 drops
Sandalwood - Santalum album 8 drops
Galbanum, Spikenard or Frankincense 2 drops
Or
Patchouli - Pogostemon cablin 6 drops
Clary sage - Salvia sclarea 4 drops
Cypress - Cupressus semperivens 3 drops
Grapefruit - Citrus paradisi 3 drops
Petitgrain - Citrus aurantium var. amara p.o.leaves 2 drops
-source unknown
