|
Pot pourri, which is a mixture of flower heads and leaves preserved with some of their essential oils, is always popular. Along with herbs like lavender and rosemary, sweet rose petals and geranium leaves go into the pot pourri. You can either buy mixtures of the oils and spices you need or you can make up your own. You will need four heaped tablespoons of orris root, one tablespoon each of cloves, ground nutmeg and allspice. Mix this up with the juice and rind of three lemons and stir in half an ounce of oil of bergamot. This mixture should go into a large pot. As you gather flowers to go into the pot pourri, mix handfuls of them with pinches of salt and saltpetre and leave them to dry for a few hours in the sun. Then put the dried petals into the big bowl, stir and cover. Keep doing this until the pot is full. At the end of the summer the pot pourri will be ready. You can concoct many different mixtures based on different flowers and each will be a perfumed reminder of Summer through the winter. |