How to make pomanders; part two
Posted by Fiona Nevile in crafts | 12 comments
Photo: Dressed and bare lemon pomanders
I got fed up with waiting for the pomanders to dry out – that I started making a couple of months ago . So I put them on trays in the only warm room in the cottage – the airing cupboard or as Danny calls it “the hot press”. This speeded up the process well. When we start lighting the wood burning stove this weekend they will be put near there to bask in the heat.
Today it was wet and gloomy so I put made a big patch of homemade passata, put some bacon in to cure and discovered that the lemon pomanders had finally dried out. I removed the remaining spice mix from the fruit with an old toothbrush – retaining the mix as it can be used over and over again. Then I gave each lemon a quick all over blast with my hairdryer.
Some of the cloves had lost their heads. These can be removed with tweezers or by using a small pair of scissors as a lever. If the clove head snaps off, use a cocktail stick to press the stem into the fruit. You can then replace all damaged cloves with fresh ones of the correct circumference. As I bought my cloves in bulk, there are quite a few damaged ones. Don’t throw these away, they are great mixed with rose petals for rose and clove scented moth bags – I found a gorgeous recipe in Barbara Ohrbach’s book Roses from the Scented Room: Beautiful Ideas for Entertaining, Gift-giving and the Home
Pomanders are not very attractive undressed. As Danny remarked,
“They look like some sort of Mediaeval weapon.”
So tarting them up is essential. To give them the best possible sartorial future, I visited the only shop in Newmarket that sells ribbons. Wow, I had no idea how expensive ribbons can be – 40p to 60p a metre! I think that I’ll be looking and buying online in the future. I actually worked out the mechanics of achieving a hanging hook and a bow using string – it’s on the right hand side of the photo – so that I didn’t waste a centimetre of ribbon. The double sided satin ribbons are pretty and suddenly the pomanders started to look tempting!
Pomanders do take a long time to make. At my Lewis Hamilton best, I could make 4 basic lemon pomanders in an hour. A decent sized orange takes at least 45 minutes. This is without the primping and dressing. But if you are time rich, these make gorgeous anytime presents. With their spiciness they are perfect for Christmas presents too. Tucked into a little hamper of home preserves they probably would steal the show.
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Hi Vera
How exciting opening a confectionary shop in France. David Lebovitz has some great recipes in his blog www.davidlebovitz.com.
Thanks so much for the pomander cure recipe. I’ve updated the recipe in your first comment!
Hi it’s vera back on line I made a slight error with the pommander recipe
it should read
30g orris powder and not iris powder not a very good translation as my recipe was in french and even after 16 years in France mastering the language is not easy
a bientot vera
Have just recently discovered the cottage smallholder internet site and have decided to subscribe and participate in your little world, this is a first for me as no other internet site caught my attention like this one.I discovered membrillo on your site and a few days later and a few kilos of quinces and voila membrillo cheese paste much much better than the usual quince paste.
I used a mix of Marian’s comments(2007 yes I know that was a while ago) plus my own experience and came up with something very tasty, am letting it dry or at least am trying to,but the slab of membrillo seems to be shrinking.
I discovered your site when sarching and researching ideas for my confectionary shop which I will be opening next year in a small medievale village in the Tarn region in France called Cordes-Sur-Ciel. Of course membrillo willl be one of the products I would like to introduce to my clients.manythanks for this wondeful discovery.
As for the pommanders here is a recipe that I have had with me for many years and which worked quite well when I made my pommanders.
115g ground cinnamon
30g ground cloves
15g ground pepper
15g ground nutmeg
30g orris powder
mix together, divide into 2 batches. place half in a bowl, place the orange in the middle which you have already picked with whole cloves and cover with the remaining spices.cover with plastic wrap turn everyday and leave in this mix for 1-2 weeks.
hope this is useful to somebody
look forward to discovering other new and unusual recipes and sharing my experiences with others. I’m an aussie living in France with my French husband since 1994(a move that he sometimes regrets!!)I was a chef in my younger days in OZ as was my husband and we are very passionate about anything “foody” and sharing this with our french friends as inevitably at every get together the subject turns to FOOOOOD
a bientot vera
I would love to buy the book you mentioned by Barbara Ohrbach,for the pomander receipe.
But there are two books from her that have very similar titles.Is it the Scented Room or Roses for the Scented Room,that Ineed to get.
Hi Jan
The book that has the pomanders is The Scented Room. This is the most comprehensive book. Roses for the Scented Room is good but more of a follow up to the first book.
You could make “ribbon” with fabric — bet they’d look wonderful with hemmed lengths of Kaffe Fasset patterns. I agree that a real ribbon makes a better bow, but you can tart up a pomander in modern ways, too. It could be an ultra-retro thing — beyond post-modern.
I can smell the heaven all the way over here in Oregon.
Oh Fiona, they look superb. I bet they smell divine too.
Oh, you have so much patience! I would love to do this, but just lack the time. 🙁
I should take my own advice! Back on the old blog I’ve been deciding I must be content – and I think that will include being content to acknowledge that I just don’t have the patience to do some beautiful things !!!!
They do indeed take a long time to make- they are presents for giving rather than things to sell- but they make really excellent presents. I dry mine in the airing cupboard after a spell in a warm oven- takes a couple of months, but does the trick without the spice mix stage.
Oh i wish i had started earlier too, they look lovely!
Do you have a market near to you – ribbon is often very cheap on haberdashery stalls
Those are gorgous Fiona! Just beautiful!