What is in Potpourri?
Potpourri is a mixture of dried fragrant plant material. It is used as a way to provide a flowery scent in places such as a home, particularly in bathrooms. Potpourri can be used to mask odors, or simply to provide a smell that is pleasant to the person who is using it. The word “potpourri” comes from the French pot-pourri, which translates to English as “rotting pot.”
There are a variety of plants used in potpourris. Some commonly used plants are cedar, jasmine, lavender, mint, and rose, though any combination of dried plant material will work. Potpourris were first used by the French, whose potpourris were all natural. However, in the modern day that is not always the case. Sometimes the smell of the plants will be enhanced, if not overtaken, but synthetic perfumes. Additionally, dyes will be used on the plants to give them a more vibrant color. As such, a once natural way of perfuming the air has become almost entirely artificial in some cases.
Potpourris are often kept in wooden or ceramic bowls. There are specific containers created to hold potpourri as well. They have lids with holes in them, allowing the scent of the potpourri to slowly diffuse, thus making it less pungent but still effective. People can create their own potpourris if they so choose, but they can be bought pre-mixed from a variety of locations at a reasonably cheap price.
The word potpourri has other meanings as well. The most common is “a collection of various things.” In this sense, it is often used as a category on Jeopardy.
Video Transcript What is in Potpourri? Hi, this is Susan Paxton for Expert Village. We’re going to look at a woodland potpourri, a little bit closer look because a lot of the things you can pick up in your own areas can be used in a potpourri. I’ll pour this into my bowl and we’ll take a look at some of the things that are in it. Now mushrooms are just perfect. They don’t have a large fragrance level but they’re a good filler and they’re colorful and add texture to the potpourri. Another thing is I believe they call it lichen or lichen or something like that that grows on trees. I went out and actually picked this up off of a tree and it adds another dimension to your potpourri. Walnuts with the casings on them, the black walnuts come off of a tree with the green. If you dry it and don’t take the cover off, they make really good potpourri additions. All kinds of little pine cones and these are miniatures and these I had to buy, but a lot of places you can go up in the mountains and you
