How to Make a Christmas Simmer Pot: Your Complete Guide for The Stovetop Potpourri to Perfume Your Home

Gifts, decorations, traditional dishes, family lunches, colored lights: it's Christmas, the most celebrated time of the year, for many the most beautiful period, to be celebrated and honored in every way. And if Christmas had its own "smell"? What scent would it be? Cinnamon, orange, rosemary and spices: to make the house smell good and give it a Christmassy atmosphere, we can prepare a simmer pot, a DIY air freshener, ready in a few minutes. The name "simmer pot" comes from the English "pot for slow cooking" and refers to the preparation of this scented infusion: a preparation made with fruit, herbs and spices cooked for a few minutes in a saucepan full of water. A clever and easy-to-make trick with which we can "flavor" the kitchen and enjoy all the Christmassy scent: here's how to prepare a perfect simmer pot, a real treat for our home.

What You Need and How to Do It

Preparing a simmer pot and letting our house fill with a pleasant "Christmas scent" is really easy, all we need is a red apple, a lemon, an orange, a cinnamon stick, a pinch of nutmeg, a sprig of rosemary, a few cloves and some star anise. We slice the orange, the apple and the lemon using a very sharp knife and cut them into slices, we combine the fruit and the spices in a saucepan full of water and place it on the stove.

Bring the water to a boil and let it cook for a few minutes on a low flame, then turn it off and let it rest for a few moments. At this point, the aroma and perfume will slowly begin to be released into the home environment; if you want the natural deodorant to act in more rooms, you can divide the simmer pot, while it is still hot, into many small containers.

How Long Does It Last?

How long will the scent last? The effect and duration of the simmer pot can vary depending on the size of the rooms and, obviously, on the level of ventilation but, to obtain a prolonged effect, you will just need to place the bowls with the simmer pot on the radiators of the house: the heat will affect the time and intensity of your homemade deodorant.