There is something nostalgic about spicy pomander balls and jars of fragrant floral potpourri that make any room instantly cozy and inviting. Perhaps it is the memory of a grandmother who was always surrounded by an aura of lavender, or remembrances of childhood days helping in the kitchen. Whatever your special memory, you can recapture it today—and give your children some very special moments to remember, too.

Potpourri (preferably with a silent “t”) is a mixture of dried flowers, spices, herbs, and essential oils—essences that impart the characteristic fragrance of a plant—used subtly to scent a room. Small amounts of potpourri, crumbled almost to a powder, can be stuffed into plump little fabric bags as sachets to place in lingerie and sweater drawers or linen closets. Potpourri made of bulky ingredients can replace foam as a stuffing for toss pillows on sofas and beds.

Pomander balls are usually fruits studded with cloves used to give a spicy scent. The name pomander comes from the French pomme d’or meaning golden apple. In olden days, before deodorants and daily baths, pomander balls were worn almost as a necessity. They were made of precious metals studded with jewels or of porcelain artfully decorated and ribboned. The balls themselves were perforated to release the scent inside, which came from exotic and expensive spices pounded to a pulp. The pulp was drenched with aromatic oils and rolled in wine and honey. Such lavish pomanders were worn mostly by royalty and the upper classes. Peasant people made natural pomander balls of fruits studded with cloves and dried in the sun.

Pomander buds

Consider the humble orange peel, so often discarded. With a twist of the wrist, you can turn it into a pomander bud to decorate and perfume your surroundings.

The next time you pick up an orange for eating or cooking, try this: thinly cut the peel off the orange in a continuous spiral, starting with a flat cut across the top of the fruit.

Continue cutting the peel, keeping it fairly uniform in width, and leaving as much of the nutritious white pulp on the fruit as possible.

If the spiral breaks, use the longest section for a small pomander bud, and save the rest for potpourri; no peel need ever go to waste.

Both navel and juice oranges will work; the thick-skinned navel is easier to cut, but the thin-skinned juice orange will make a more compact bud. Lemons, limes, grapefruit and tangerines can also be peeled for pomander buds. Peel whatever citrus fruit tastes and smells best to you.

Curl the peel around itself in a tight rosette

Tuck the end underneath the bud—sometimes the bud looks better if you turn it upside down after it is formed

Let the completed bud dry for a week or so in a warm, dry place such as a shelf above the range or underneath a desk lamp. Moisture will cause mildew and must be avoided. The peels will shrink and become very hard when dry (the photo below shows a newly curled pomander bud, right, next to three dried buds).

But the dry peels will retain some of their natural scent. Put a bud or two in a drawer, mix them in a potpourri, or pile a collection of buds in a large brandy snifter as pictured at the top of this post. Adding a drop or two of an appropriate citrus-scent essential oil will refresh the scent.