They were originally small balls of gold, silver or ivory and contained rare spices that were fixed with ambergris. They were used to ward off objectionable smells. My favorite pomanders are made with apples, oranges, lemons or limes and studded with cloves and aged in a curing spice blend. They can then be placed in bowls around your home or hung with ribbons to scent the home. Because they look and smell so festive, pomanders have long been associated with Christmas and the holidays.
I love their scent year round and if you start early, you can have a number of them made up ahead of time to give as gifts.
To make a pomander you will need the following:
Oranges, apples, lemons or limes.
Whole large headed cloves
A curing spice mixture ( recipe below )
An ice pick or crochet hook for piercing the fruit. This makes it a lot easier to insert the cloves.
A large bowl to put the curing spices and cure the pomanders.
As you inset the cloves, hold the fruit firmly, but don’t squeeze it. The cloves can be place at random in the fruit. They should be close together, but not too crowded.
Place the studded fruit into a bowl with the curing spices and roll in the spices.
Each day roll the fruit in the spices and continue until the fruit has hardened. They are then done and ready to put in bowls or hand with ribbons.
Curing Spice Mixture
4 ounces powdered cinnamon
2 ounces powdered cloves
1 ounce powdered allspice
½ ounces powdered nutmeg
1 ounces powdered orris root.
This mixture can be used over and over and be stored in a sealed ziplock bag and put in a cool dark cabinet.
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