You can use a simmer pot to give your home a cozy, aromatic vibe this winter but I also think it could be useful to neutralize any odour that might be leftover from cooking a dish that leaves an unwanted, lingering scent in your home.  It could also be a great way to give your home an edge at a showing if you are trying to sell.

All you need is a pot, some water and a few ingredients – or try it in a crockpot for something a bit more low-maintenance.  There are tonnes of recipes online, fall and Christmas scents being very popular, so I tried to test a few recipes that were less common.

To test them out, I set up my simmer pot and left my house on a dog walk.  This gave my nose a chance to reset and it gave me a chance to truly experience the aroma and get a feel for the atmosphere that each scent created in my home.

I gave 3 recipes a try and here are my reviews:

Make your home smell like a “High-End Home Decor Store”

• 2 lemons, sliced
• 2 sprigs of rosemary
• 1 tbsp of vanilla
• Fill your pot or crockpot ¾ full of water

I decided to try this one because I thought the lemon might help neutralize the remnants of a salmon dinner. Is it strange to say that my home smelled classy? The vanilla scent was a bit dominant for my tastes so next time I think I would increase the rosemary to have a bit more of an herbal note.

Make your home smell “Woodsy”

• Cedar sprigs
• Spruce sprigs
• Eucalyptus sprigs

I selected this one because I could collect some cedar and spruce from our yard or on a winter hike and it helps offset the cost of splashing out on some eucalyptus at the grocery store or a florist. I paid just over $3 for some baby eucalyptus at my local florist. I tried it in my crock pot and it wasn’t as strong as I was hoping it would be – quite subtle. Overall, I think the scents are stronger when you actually simmer them on the stove top.

Make your home smell like a “Cozy Coffee Shop”

• ¼ cup of whole roasted coffee beans
• 3-4 cinnamon sticks
• 1 tbsp of whole cardamom pods
• 4 star anise
• 1 tsp of allspice berries

I picked up most of the ingredients at my local Bulk Barn.  The nice thing is that you can buy just what you need so you don’t end up with a bunch of spices that you don’t normally use, my spices came to around $4 total.  We had the coffee beans on hand. This actually hit the target! My home did smell like a cozy coffee house.  My daughter even asked “what smells so good?” as she walked in the door from school.  It does become strong after a while – it eventually carried through our whole house – but I liked the scent so much that it didn’t bother me.

Let me know if you happen to have a favorite recipe or if you try one of these.

Wishing you a wonderful winter!