Herbal Gifts, Part One
© Leda Meredith
Some holidays have found me with nothing in the bank, and yet I've still managed to delight in giving numerous gifts to friends and family. Funny thing is, even if I was a millionaire, I'd still give homemade presents. I love making them and I love the response they get. "You made this?!" In an era when store bought is the norm, a beautiful homemade gift often amazes people.
I've got holiday memories from my childhood that include hours spent in the kitchen with Mom stringing cranberries and popcorn for decorations, of preparing mulling spices for the cider that would welcome my semi-frozen nose after an evening's caroling.
Homemade gifts take time to make. The time taken is part of what is appreciated about the gift. But the time spent is also its own present to the maker. What better antidote to hectic city life than to spend half an hour surrounded by the fragrance of cloves and apples while making a pomander? Or an hour writing out recipes to thoughtfully accompany your beautiful bottles of herbal vinegar and spice blends?
There is no hectic, last minute run to the crowded stores. Herbal gifts can be made as the whim strikes, all year long. The only last minute part is deciding which herbal gift is perfect for whom.
To get started, keep an eye out for lovely bottles and jars. I confess that I will sometimes spend an extra dime or two to purchase something in an attractive bottle that I know I will be able to reuse for a gift. Combine soaking off the labels with sterilizing the bottles by immersing them in boiling water for 15 minutes.
If you've stocked up on herbs from the garden or windowsill, you're ready to make herbal gifts. If not, don't worry. You probably have many that you can use on your kitchen spice rack, or can you can buy the fresh bundles of rosemary, mint, etc. many stores carry now.
For starters, how about that pomander I mentioned? You might have made these when you were a kid, as I did. If you have kids, this is a wonderful project to share with them.
Pomanders
Buy a few apples, oranges and tangerines. Check in your kitchen to see if you have plenty of whole cloves, ground cinnamon, and a few toothpicks or skewers. Pierce the fruit with the toothpick or skewer, making the holes about 1/4 inch apart. Stick a whole clove into each hole. Smells wonderful, doesn't it? Roll the fruit in the ground cinnamon. Set aside in a dark, cool place for a few weeks (I put mine in paper bags in the closet - our clothes smell wonderful while these gifts are drying!). The fruit will shrink around the cloves and be preserved by the strong essential oils in the spices. Wrap your pomander with a crisscross of lace or ribbon and tie a loop to hang it from. Now it is your gift recipient's turn to enjoy this fragrance in their closet or hung anywhere in their home.
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