FRAGRANT SCENTS

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 830, 26 November 1929, Page 4

FRAGRANT SCENTS

HERB LORE

SOME OLD RECIPES "Hcrbes that grow in the fieuies b. bettere than those that prove in denes. And those that grow on the hillis be best,” wrote 11 fifteenth-ceo-tury herbalist, and the housewives of his times excelled in the “swete pox der for bagges,” which they tied nii in little silk sachets to carry on thei r person or fold among their linens These powders were an early forni of the modern pot-pourri, and a naticularly favourite powder was scented with damask roses. Several of these old recipes hav. * been collected by Mr. C. J. S. Thomnson, in his book on “The Mystery and Lure of Perfume," and we "learn that the famous “Damask Powuer" wp 8 made with leaves of the damask ios* mixed with musk, storax, labdunam. gum-benzoin, gallingal, and ealannts’ This preparation was said to give ‘a fine odour.” The crushed aromatic gums and powdered roots brought oat the rose scent, and a simpler recipe says, “Take damask rose loaves, orris root, calaminth. and benzoin gum and make into a powder and fill y e bagges.” SCENTED LEAVES The scent of leaves is often more lasting than that of flowers, and the old herbalist was right in thinking no blossoms as fragrant as the perfume of bruised wild thyme, mint, or rosemary. Bush lovers in Australia know the clean aromatic scent of crushed gum leaves, and the housewife of the twentieth century who flavours her cookery with dried herbs is following a very ancient custom of imparting scent and savour. Herbs for drying should be plucked when just about to flower, as the greatest fragrance is in the young tips (lavender blossoms must be picked before the flowers open), and it is well worth the trouble to grow and dry the herbs required for family use, as they surpass the commercial product in even - way. The following are the directions given by Eleauour Sinclair Bohde, in “A Garden of Heft-bs.” “No herbs,” she writes, “should ever be dried in the sunlight, as this extracts so much of their virtue. They should always be picked when the dew has well dried off them, but before the snu is at its hottest. They should be hung in small bunches in a dark, dry place, with paper over them to keep off the dust, and as soon as they are perfectly dry they should be powdered and put into airtight tins, or, preferably. into well-corked bottles. If i* the latter they should be kept in the dark.

“One of the easiest ways of drying herbs, if you have no proper dryingshed, is to hang them in bunches in a cool oven. Flowers for pot-pouiri should be dried and spread out wire sieves, so that the air can air* culate all round them, below as well as above. If necessary cover with butter muslin, to prevent the petals blowing about.” (Miss Rohde’s sug. gestion about wire racks is well Wurth remembering, as the petals and leaves dry so evenly.) HERB-DRYING ' That old English scholar, Sir Joht Hill, who wrote the “Virtues of RHH.Ii Herbs” (1772), says of herb drying: “If they be cut wet with the dew, herbs will not dry well, and if they be cut at noonday, when the sun has made the leaves flag, they will not have their full power. Care must also be taken to cut them on a dry day, for the wet of rain will do as much harm as that of dew. When the herbs are thus gathered, they are to be looked over, the decayed leaven cut off, and the dead end of the stalks cut away. They are then to be tied into small bunches, the less the better, and hung upon lines drawn across the room, where the windows and doors are to be kept open in good weather. The bunches are to be kept half a foot asunder, and they ate to hang till perfectly dry. They are then to be taken softly down, without shaking off the buds of the flowers, and laid evenly in a drawer pressing them down and covering them with paper.” In explaining why herbs are at their best just before the buds unfold, he says: “Nature In the whole growth of plants tends to the production of their flowers and seeds, but when they are ripe the rest begins to decay, having done its duty, so that the tin* when the entire plant is in its most full perfection is when it is in the bud. when the heads are formed for flowering, but not a single flower has yet disclosed itself.” Miss Rohde has a very charming idea when she suggests taking invalids little posies of fresli herbs, as they will get such joy from the fragrant leaves. FILLINGS FOR SACHETS Lois Leeds and Hilda Kaji advocaie the use of tiny silk sachets filled with dried rose leaves or lavender, and - perfumed with a few drops of special scent. For rose sabhets they recommend four ounces of dried rose petal*, with eight drops each of oil or geranium and oil of rose, and five dropß .°” tincture of ambergris. For lavend - sachets the recipe is one ounce « lavender flowers, two drams benzoin, and eight drops of oil of lavender. These sachets would make ckarmuje gifts, and could be lightly stitched * the bodice of a frock. The best way to make them would be to mix me essences in the given proportions, an* having cut thin layers of cotton w the size of the sachets to moisten them with the essences. After naviua been left for a day or two in a closea box, place the cotton wool inside t™ sachets, add some of the dried n»> soms, and stitch the edges in placeAnother way is to steep scrap*, muslin in the essences, and to m» these with the dried petals as , Ko ° the dampness has evaporated, make a delightful perfume for use these writers suggest mixing an ounce of oil of lavender or « geranium with one half-pint of re spirit. The more expensive ro*e perfume requires one J 1 . . attar of rose to one half-pint of fled spirit. By a little ingenuity trouble sweet scents are available **» the year round.