Dried herbs and spices are used in the making of pot-pourri, the scented mixture of flowers, leaves, roots and aromatic spices used in those little pottery jars, and bags or sachets. Believe it or not, the name comes from the French pourrir, to rot, and is derived from the original method of manufacture, semi-dried material being mixed with oils and perfumed waters and allowed literally to rot. The resulting sticky mess had to be put into opaque containers. But the perfume, using salt and orris root, benzoin gum, and various other preservatives, was delightful.
Nowadays, the most popular way to make pot-pourri is by the dry method. Dry some of the following; lemon balm, lemongrass, rose petals (the old scented “cabbage roses” are the best), lavender heads, violet petals, white jasmine, a small quantity of lemon or garden thyme, rosemary, orange and lemon blossom or dried orange or lemon peel, and leaves of the scented geraniums (rose and lemon are the best). Dry all these thoroughly separately, then mix together in a large container, together with a very small quantity of cinnamon, several blades of mace, or a few cloves if you wish.
Now pack a layer about 1 inch deep in the bottom of a half-gallon glassjar (a smaller glass jar will do for a smaller quantity), and sprinkle with a mixture of half salt and half powdered orris root. Fill up the jar this way with alternate layers, pressing it down tightly as you go, then seal well. (Orris root, by the way, is the rhizome of Iris germanica or Iris florentina, the common purple, mauve or white garden iris. It can be bought from herb stockists, but you can make your own by drying the roots as described here previously, and rubbing them through a fine grater or pulverizing them in a blender. They have no perfume when fresh, only when dried.)
Leave your jar now for one month. Then unpack, stir all around, and fill small pottery jars, decorative containers, or small dainty bags of silk or taffeta. This dry mix is ideally suited for making sachet bags for clothing cupboards and linen drawers, or for scenting a box of writing paper. Remember to stir the pot or rub the sachet occasionally: herbs release their perfume only when bruised.
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