Crystal Writes A Blog

🎬 🎵 Recipe for Making Apple and Orange Pomanders 🍎🍊

First, what is a pomander? Grokipedia has a detailed article about it with 55 source links at the bottom. I think you’ll be able to turn anything into a wonderful bit of scent after reading all that. 👃

The PIP above is my own cloved apple pomander from a long time ago, and it really did last a number of years. I wish I’d read instructions first to learn that puncturing the fruit with a large toothpick or bamboo skewer helps the cloves go in better. I just imitated what I saw a neighbor make for my grandma when I was young. I knew it was about inserting a lot of cloves into an apple, but I didn’t know how sore your fingers could get from many repetitions of pushing sharp, dried flowers into place.

But the smell was so worth it! With my reactions to scents, especially from chemicals, this is an air-freshener I can actually use. And the smell of cloves reminds me of the cloved hams my grandpa made for holidays. The ONLY reason I haven’t made more was the finger pain, but now I’m ready to try again with the assistance of pre-punctured holes. And maybe I’ll even consider turning it into an ornament like they do in the video I’ll share at the end. I set it on a glittery red gift box for a picture, but a real ornament would probably look even prettier.

To keep it simple, here are the ingredients you may want…

• Apples or Citrus (oranges or lemons)
• Whole Cloves, about 1/4 cup
• 1 Tbsp each of Ground Cinnamon and Ginger (should be enough for about two apples)
• Bamboo Skewer, Large Toothpick, Needle, etc.
• Ribbon and Twine
• Hot Glue Gun (for decorations and ribbons)

Instructions

• Your apple (or orange) should be fresh and blemish free, have a fragrant aroma, and still have its stem to hang it up to dry.
• Puncture the fruit with a skewer in the design you want to make for the cloves.
• Use whole cloves, and fully cover the fruit if you want it to last even longer, but the antioxidant properties in this craft make it resilient already.
• Put the apple in a paper bag with the spice mix and close the top then shake gently to coat the outside of the fruit. (I consider this optional since I didn’t need the extra scent before, but this was in the instructions from Homestead Lady and you might like it better that way. If I do it, I’ll probably try some other spices as well.)
• Once you remove it from the bag, you can simply add some twine or string, or you can get fancy with ribbons and glue and cloth leaves.

Here’s a nice instruction video from My Quaint Cottage on YouTube where they have other crafty videos as well, though the newest one is 4 years ago:

And just because I really like music and singing, here’s a music video about apples:

I found one more with lyrics and clips from the movie Up, but it was only listed 4 months ago, so I’m not sure if it has any copyright risks that could make it be taken down. For now, though, it’s just adorable:

November 5, 2026 - Posted by Crystal A Murray (aka CrystalWriter) | Creativity, fun, Photo Editing & Manipulation, Photo Studio Pro app, Recipes, Slice of Life, Thoughts and/or Instructions | Cloved Apple, craft, natural air freshener, ornament, pomander, scented, spiced