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| image: Timothy Newman on Unsplash |
Now that it's officially fall, it's time to talk about indoor fragrance. I have mostly used scented candles for indoor fall fragrances. However, this year I decided to really assess the value of using a candle for fragrance and look into the alternatives.
If you are like me and enjoy a nice spicy or citrusy fragrance for the home in fall and winter, read on.
The good news is there is most definitely an alternative. In our modern era of convenience in cooking and food prep, we've forgotten how women traditionally fragranced their homes in the "closed window and door" seasons. They used natural substances -- herbs and spices. While in some instances home-grown herbs might be placed by windows and doors to keep various critters out or simmered in a pot of water for medicinal or aesthetic value, for the most part the home was fragranced as a by-product of cooking and baking.
Most of us have the luxury today to bypass baking if we want fragrance. Spices are no longer an extravagance that should only be used judiciously. Instead, many of the common spices, like cinnamon and cloves, are available relatively inexpensively for our use today when compared to household income.
Adding fragrance to your home is as simple as a simmer pot. A simmer pot is just what it sounds like, a pot of spices and other natural aromatics in water, simmering on the stove or in a slow cooker. While a simmer pot doesn't exactly replace burning a candle, it has it's own virtues.
Let's take a look at both the pros and cons of using a simmer pot.
Simmer Pot Pros
- very inexpensive, costing pennies per batch and a single batch can be used multiple days in a row
- no toxic fumes or burn-off from wax components or artificial fragrances
- may have very, very mild health benefits
- after use, the waste can be composted -- there is nothing that must be disposed of in a landfill
- no ghosting -- the soot-based surface film that ends up on walls, draperies, ceilings. It's practically invisible, but it remains.
Simmer Pot Cons
- you can only use it when you have a power/fuel source
- they're not free to use, as there's the cost of power or fuel to keep a pot simmering
- there is the risk a pot will boil dry and ruin that pot. Simmer pots require more attention than a candle, which will burn out when the wick gets too low
- you're limited to the fragrance items you have at home
- relatively short lifespan, due to the possibility of mold. You can keep a simmer pot overnight in the fridge to prolong the life of the ingredients, 3 to 5 days max. Then it's time to discard the batch.
- not as pretty to look at
Mitigating These Cons
- you can use a slow cooker to reduce the power/fuel use with a simmer pot and reduce the speed of evaporation
- you can use a timer switch that automatically shuts off electricity to the slow cooker after a specified number of hours, preventing the pot from cooking dry
If you still prefer using a candle, I will say that candles have their virtues, too. Let's look at the pros and cons of using fragranced candles.
Candle Pros
- they provide light and ambiance, as well as scent
- candles can be used in a power outage
- candles are highly portable and can be taken outdoors, camping, to the cabin, or moved into any room of the house
- candles provide many different fragrances
- candles burn themselves out when done
- they have a very long shelf life and can be stored, unlit, in a drawer or cabinet for months in between uses
Candle Cons
- candles have a statistically higher risk of house fire than using a simmer pot on the stove
- candles are risky if you have pets or small children that can reach them. Our cat was very attracted to candles and simply wouldn't leave them alone no matter where we placed them
- candles have a high purchase cost in relation to actual burn time
- candles have limited scent throw, usually confined to one room
- candles often contain ingredients that you might not want you, your kids, or your pets to breathe in
- they can release by-products and soot that thinly coats surfaces in your home
- depending upon your point of view, jar candles either create waste in the form of a residual jar after use or they provide a "free" container to store small items.
What you decide for fragrancing your home this fall and winter is up to you. Like I said above, I've traditionally used scented candles in the cooler months. This year I'm going to try keeping a simmer pot.
For the one I made the other day (and have been using for 3 days in a row), I used cinnamon, cloves, ginger, allspice, nutmeg, vanilla flavoring, and maple flavoring. The aroma is like that of a pumpkin pie in the oven or a batch of spiced cookies cooling on the counter.
Other fragrance possibilities include citrus peels, apple cores and skins leftover from making applesauce, slices of apple, fresh and dried herbs, pine tree sprigs, and fresh and dried blossoms.
The method is simple. Fill a saucepan or small crockpot 3/4 with water, add your simmer ingredients, bring to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer, and top off with warm water periodically.
Modern simmer pots are actually a return to our roots. While commercial candles represent a linear "buy, burn, and throw away" cycle, the historical simmer pot was the ultimate example of the circular economy -- giving a second beautiful life to things that would otherwise be discarded, then returned to the earth to nourish the next generation of homegrown aromatics.
We don't use candles here for scent or otherwise. We have carried over that cautionary practice from when we had active little boys and cats, even though we have neither anymore. In general, I'm not attracted to extra scents in my environment, but I will say that I enjoyed the smell of baking bread yesterday. Maybe, I'll give the simmer pot a try. I generally like the fall smells.
ReplyDeleteHi Live and Learn,
DeleteLittle boys grow up, but cats always remain a threat to something like candles. The fall scents, like spices, vanilla, maple, citrus, and pine are my favorites. If you give a simmer pot a try, I hope you find some scents that you enjoy.
L&L is my twin. 😂 I rarely use scented candles--if I receive one as a gift, I try to light it once or twice, but that's about it. I tend to get migraines, and scents can be a trigger for me. I would likely fare better with a simmer pot than a candle--it gives more control over the scent than a candle, and as you said, it's all natural. However, I enjoy baking, and one of the things I like best about it is the delicious odor that fills the house.
ReplyDeleteHi Kris,
DeleteI love the fragrance from baking, too. I don't bake as much as I used to, though -- too much added sugar. So for me, a simmer pot gives the same fragrances I love, without the calories.
I'm sorry you suffer with migraines. I did too for many, many years. They improved significantly after menopause for me. But the perfumey fragrances from candles can do me in, even now.
Oh, that simmer pot is a bad reminder of what happened in our early marriage. Hubby had been in a car accident and when he was able to use a wheelchair that I lifted into my car he said he wanted a haircut. I had a simmering pot with potpourri in the front window with curtains half closed. I forgot about it and left with my husband. We came back less than an hour later and there were flames from that pot and thankfully didn't get to the curtains but the simmering pot was blackened. I vowed never again to burn candles or anything else and didn't for over twenty five years. Kids give us candles and we burn them with care more for ambiance that anything else. Be careful with candles and simmering pots!
ReplyDeleteAlice
Ay Carumba! Was this may I ask like one of those 90's-style, electric potpourri burners (that looks just like a wee-mini crockpot)...??? I see those vintage cuties still sometimes in thrift stores (think I may have even had one of my own waaaaay back in the day) and was becoming inspired to maybe start keeping my eye out for one those golden oldies ....
DeleteOh hold on -- re-reading your post it actually sounds as though it might actually have been a small candle-lit potpourri pot, and not an electric one...?
DeleteHi Alice,
DeleteI'm sorry you had that experience! I'm not sure how you had a simmer pot on a window sill. Was this a small appliance just to use as a simmer pot that was portable? The ones I do use the stove or the crockpot in the kitchen with no highly flammable objects in the vicinity.
The incident you related reminded me of our old toaster. It was on the kitchen counter under a cabinet, like we all do. I had a small boy and 2 babies, so I kept it back from the counter's edge. Makes sense, right? I was making toast for my son, busy with the babies in the other room, and the toaster decided to not pop up the toast. The bread caught on fire. When I came into the kitchen there were flames coming out of the top of the toaster under the cabinets. The flames scorched the underside of the cabinets, but fortunately nothing else caught fire. The sight terrified me. I quickly put the flames out. But still . . . To this day, I insist everyone in the house pull the toaster out to the counter edge when making toast. I remind them of the scorched cabinet.
Anyway, in our more modern age we sometimes forget that appliances can cause fire, and we leave the room (or house in your case) when something is burning. And yes, we in our house are super careful about candles. I only burn candles when we are in the same room as the candle. One daughter likes to burn a candle when she uses the bathtub. But again, she's in the room as the candle.
I have done both. I enjoy seasonal scents in my home and fortunately we don't have sensitivities to the smell. My husband own an insurance agency and has seen many fires as a result of candles, so I am careful about where I place them and how long they are lit. I don't typically purchase them unless they are a great price point. I just bought a fall scented one - practically new - at goodwill and am excited to light it. During the Christmas season, I like to have a simmer pot going with those wonderful herbs and fruit.
ReplyDeleteHi Ruthie,
DeleteYou know one "recent" invention that I love are the flameless candles. They don't give off scent, but the technology has improved so much, the flames look almost real. Your husband's experience as an insurance agent doesn't surprise me. We have a family friend who's young adult child left a burning candle in a bedroom then left. It started a small fire in the house. Fortunately the mom was home at the time and was able to quickly put the fire out before it spread. But if the mom had not been home, that fire could have spread and destroyed the house. We're super careful with candles, the stove, space heaters, and the dryer. A church friend's husband was the local fire captain. He once told me that leaving a dryer to run while you leave the house is also a fire risk. So we never do that any more.
Back to the topic, that's a wonderful find from Goodwill! Enjoy your new candles.
For anyone that burns a woodstove, we used to keep a cast iron humidifier on ours, and sometimes I'd throw a stick of cinnamon or a couple of whole cloves in the water. You have to keep those filled, too, but it's easier to remember to fill the water because you're tending the wood in the stove, already. Sara
ReplyDeleteHi Sara,
DeleteI think for the household that uses a wood stove for heat, the tendency is to be more mindful of fire risk in general, especially when there's one person who "minds" the fire. That sounds wonderful, to add a stick of cinnamon or a few whole cloves to the humidifier on top of the wood stove. It sounds so "pioneer." Thanks for sharing that mental image, Sara.