Do you love for your home to smell like the holidays? Do you have guests coming in to visit this December and want your house to smell warm and inviting? My friends, I have just the thing for you today!
Today we are going to talk about stovetop potpourri. Specifically this cranberry apple stovetop potpourri. Close your eyes and smell picture this, the scent of cinnamon and vanilla fill the air. Bright fresh fruit flavors accompany the scent and bring all the good holiday feels.
I am serious friends, you have to try this scrumptious smelling natural air freshener!
It smells so good that this morning I walked into my kitchen, sleepy from 3 hours of sleep, and wondered why my house smelled like these muffins. It legit smelled like holiday baked goods.
Then I remembered I left my cranberry apple potpourri on the stove all night (not simmering of course). My kitchen smelled amazing just from it sitting out not even cooking!
What is stovetop potpourri
I am pretty sure stovetop potpourri has been around forever. I feel like I remember this being a thing when I was young. Stovetop potpourri is simply simmering fresh fruits and spices in water on the stove.
To be honest it always seemed a little too old fashioned for me to try. Old fashioned or not stovetop potpourri is amazing and smells way better than any candle will ever smell. I am simply hooked on making stovetop potpourri.
In fact, I actually started doing different stovetop potpourri recipes about a month ago when I couldn’t find a fall candle scent I liked. Now I have moved on to making Christmas and holiday scents thanks to all of the leftover cranberries I have from Thanksgiving.
6 reasons you should make cranberry apple potpourri
- This smells amazing without filling your home with toxins.
- It is super frugal and cheap- you can basically use any fragrant kitchen scraps or things from outside!
- It screams Christmas time with colorful beautiful red cranberries and pops of green apple peels
- Anyone who enters your home will think you have been baking all the livelong day.
- The smell travels further than a candle
- Your house will smell like Christmas
Ingredients for cranberry apple stove top potpourri
To make this potpourri you will need
- Green apples
- Cinammon- a stick works best but I suspect powder in a pinch will still be fragrant
- Whole fresh cranberries
- Vanilla extract
Thats it! Four simple ingredients and you are ready to make stovetop potpourri, well as long as you also have a small saucepan/pot and water.
How to make
To make this stovetop air freshener place 2 cups of water in a small saucepan. Add your cinnamon stick and 2 cups of whole cranberries.
Peel two green apples and add the peels. Alternatively you could add apple slices without peeling, but I didn’t want to waste the apple. I just used the peeled apple for baby food! Add 1 teaspoon of vanilla and give it all a little stir.
Bring your potpourri to a boil and then immediately turn the heat down as low as possible so the potpourri comes to a very slow simmer.
Bam! Your done. Christmas scent in the air, don’t care!
As the potpourri simmers throughout the day you should add water as the water levels drop. If you don,’t it will burn. And burnt Christmas is no good.
I typically keep mine full and add about ½ cup of water at a time.
How long does this last?
I am no potpourri expert, but I have successfully used mine for 3 days before I felt it was time to throw it out. I just leave it sitting on the stove (you could refrigerate if you are crazy like that) and then reheat the next day, being sure to add water if needed.
If throughout the day you feel the scent becomes faint, just turn the heat up enough to where the water begins to steam a little bit. You can then turn it back down if desired.
Safety first friends, don’t leave the house with this on the stove and cooking. Also, if you have little ones in the house use a back burner!
I would love for you to leave a comment below and tell me what you thought of this Christmasy holiday stovetop potpourri scent. It would be the best. Cause you my friend are the best!
Print
Cranberry Apple Stovetop Potpourri
- Total Time: 5 minutes
- Yield: n/a
Description
Cranberry apple stove top potpourri- fill your home with the flavor and scent of the holidays with this natural air freshener
Ingredients
- 2 cups fresh whole cranberries
- 2 green apples peeled (you only need the peels of the two green apples)
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 cups water
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients in saucepan.
- Bring to a boil and then immediately reduce temperature to as low as your stovetop goes. Simmer on stovetop to enjoy scent.
- Add water as needed through out the day.
- Keeps for 3 days.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Category: air freshener
- Method: Stove Top
- Cuisine: American
Gayle
I think this would be a great idea. I was wonder if using a small slow cooker would also be a good idea. I did see this on a Vlog called fatheringautism and would like to make it though yours calls for apple peel and I believe she used one apple quartered. which would you consider the best way?
Loren
Hi Gayle!
A small crockpot/slowcooker would be perfect! And you can absolutely use the whole apple. I used peels because they were left over from scraps of food I already used! A whole apple might turn really mushy but it will still smell fantastic! Thanks so much for asking 🙂