Fill your home with the wonderful aromas of the autumn season with this fantastic diffuser blend! Need a diffuser? Check out the diffuser selection from Abundant Health!
Tag Archives: ginger
Essential Oil–Infused Potpourri
Enjoy the wonderful autumn and winter scents with this essential oil–infused potpourri! All you need to do is find some cute containers and fill them with potpourri ingredients. Add a few drops of essential oil to spruce up the scent, then enjoy for a couple weeks before recharging it with more essential oil!
This essential oil–infused potpourri makes a fantastic and simple gift for neighbors, friends, and coworkers this holiday season! Just attach a cute gift tag with ribbon or twine, and it’s good to go! If you would like to introduce your friends to essential oils, you may want to consider adding a small sample bottle of essential oil that they can use to “recharge” their own potpourri.
Don’t give all of them away though—you’ll want to keep a few to use yourself! We love placing these in the bathroom, the closet, the entryway, and many other places around the house. Try keeping a small container of this potpourri in your car as an easy car diffuser. You will love being welcomed with these aromas every time you get in your car!
Essential Oil–Infused Potpourri
Ingredients:
- Potpourri ingredients (such as cinnamon sticks, vanilla beans, dried apple slices, dried orange peels, bay leaves, candied ginger, whole nutmeg, whole cloves, whole allspice, cardamom seeds, and star anise)
- Essential oils (such as cinnamon, orange, ginger, vetiver, clove, cardamom, or holiday-scented blend)
- Salve Jars, Mason Jars, or PET Jars
Instructions:
- Cut up bigger items such as cinnamon sticks, vanilla beans, dried apple slices, bay leaves, candied ginger, etc. as needed to fit in your containers.
- Add 3–5 drops of desired essential oil(s) on top of the potpourri.
- To use, simply leave the lid off of the container to enjoy the delightful aromas! Add a few drops of essential oil every couple weeks or as needed. You can also put the ingredients in a pot full of simmering water to spread the smell throughout the house.
Note: To gift, make sure contents fit inside the container. Screw the lid on, and decorate with ribbon, twine, or a gift tag. You can even include a small sample bottle filled with essential oil so your gift recipients can recharge their potpourri.
We added a little bit of everything to our potpourri, along with some cinnamon, orange, and cardamom essential oil, and we loved the result. But feel free to get creative and use whatever you have on hand for this recipe! All of these ingredients complement each other, so you really can’t go wrong here.
Essential Oil Spotlight: Ginger
Ginger essential oil is steam-distilled from rhizomes of the Zingiber officinale plant.
Historically, ginger has been an esteemed spice known to help the digestive system. Up to 4,ooo years ago, the ancient Greeks used it in gingerbread, Romans put it in their wine, and Egyptians used it in their cooking to ward off epidemics. In India and China, ginger was used in teas and tonics to aid digestion and the heart. Hawaiians made broad use of ginger, scenting their clothes, flavoring their food, and adding it to their shampoos and massage oils.
In addition to aiding digestive issues, ginger can be used to relieve motion sickness, nausea, fever, teething pains, tonsillitis, and vomiting. Ginger may also be helpful in treating arthritis, colds, impotence, muscular aches, and sore throats.
The sweet, spicy-woody, and fresh aroma of ginger may help influence physical energy, sex, love, money, and courage.
See the Reference Guide for Essential Oils to learn more about ginger essential oil and many other pure essential oils.
Source: Reference Guide for Essential Oils, 2016 Edition, pp. 79–80.
DIY Essential Oil Breath Mints
Would you like to customize your own breath mints? We want to show you how! This recipe may seem super unhealthy, but keep in mind that you aren’t eating more than 1 or 2 small pieces at a time. In other words, even though these taste amazing, they are breath mints and are meant to be eaten in very small doses.
Gum paste is likely the ingredient you don’t have on hand; but don’t worry, we have included an easy homemade gum paste recipe with ingredients you probably already have in your house! If you don’t want to make it yourself, you can always buy gum paste at any grocery store or craft store that carries cake decorating supplies.
The hardest part of this recipe is getting the mints all cut out. So, if you don’t have kids that can help, try cutting out squares with a sharp knife instead of using a straw to make the process faster. You can also find tiny metal “clay cutters” at a craft store that would be about the right size and come in a variety of shapes.
Some essential oils we used that taste fantastic as breath mints are peppermint, cinnamon, spearmint, and fennel. Other oils that may taste good are ginger, orange, lemon, or lime. If you want to make them sour, you can even add a little citric acid to the gum paste and dust with citric acid instead of the powdered sugar.
You can store small quantities in your purse or pocket with this 1/4 oz. Plastic Salve Jar. These mints also make a great gift!
Essential Oil Breath Mints
Ingredients:
- Gum Paste (this can be bought at a store that sells cake decorating supplies or made homemade with the recipe below)
- Food coloring (optional)
- Essential oils such as peppermint, cinnamon, spearmint, fennel, ginger, orange, lemon, or lime.
- Powdered sugar (or citric acid for sour flavors)
Instructions:
- Pull out a section of gum paste about the size of an egg. Knead it with your hands until it becomes soft and pliable.
- Add food coloring if desired (3–4 drops is usually sufficient), and knead until the color is well blended into the dough. (*Helpful hint: to make sure both the food coloring and the essential oil or blend stay in the dough and don’t drip off, create a well in the top of the piece of dough with your finger, drop the coloring or oil in the well, fold the dough so it closes over the well opening, and then continue to knead the dough as normal.)
- Add 3–4 drops of your desired essential oil for a mild flavor or 5–8 drops of essential oil for a stronger flavor. We recommend starting with 3 or 4 drops, tasting a small piece, and adding more essential oil if needed.
- Once the color and flavor are as desired, sprinkle a little powdered sugar on a clean surface. Use a rolling pin to roll the dough out on the powdered sugar to a little more than 1/8 inch thick.
- Cut out your breath mints using a straw (for circles), a sharp knife (for small squares), or another small shape. We used a straw cut down to an inch long.
- As you cut out your mints, dust them with a little powdered sugar so they don’t stick together.
- Leave the mints exposed to air until they become hard (about 48 hours); then store them in any container.
The 1/4 oz. Plastic Salve Jar is a nice sized container to keep some mints handy in your purse or pocket.
Easy Homemade Gum Paste
Ingredients:
- 4 tsp. water
- 1 tsp. unflavored gelatin powder
- 1 tsp. corn syrup
- 1 1/2 cup powdered sugar + more if needed to get the right consistency
Instructions:
- Put 4 tsp. of water in a double boiler or in a glass measuring cup placed in a small pan filled with an inch of water (creating a double boiler).
- Sprinkle the gelatin powder over the 4 tsp. of water. Let sit for 5 minutes or until it starts to look foamy.
- Stir in the corn syrup, and warm on stove over medium heat, stirring frequently, until the mixture turns clear.
- Stir in 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar. Continue adding sugar little by little and kneading with your hands just until it doesn’t stick so much to your fingers.
- Once the texture is soft and stretchy, it is ready to use in the recipe above.
- If unable to use quickly, store in a plastic bag, making sure to remove all the air. You don’t want the gum paste to dry out before you have a chance to work with it.
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