Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- Wash the apple, orange, and rosemary.
- Thinly slice the apple and orange.
- Add the fruit, cinnamon sticks, cloves, and rosemary to a 3-quart saucepan.
- Pour in 5 cups of water and add the vanilla extract if using.
- Heat over medium heat until gentle steam and small bubbles appear.
- Reduce the heat to low and maintain a gentle simmer.
- Check the water every 20–30 minutes and add more hot water whenever the level becomes low.
- Simmer for about 2–3 hours while attended, or turn off the heat earlier when the fragrance is strong enough.
- Turn off the burner before leaving the room for an extended period or leaving home.
Notes
Recipe Notes:
- Stronger fragrance: Add one cinnamon stick, two or three orange slices, or several additional apple slices. Increase mild ingredients before adding more cloves.
- Lighter fragrance: Reduce the cloves first, remove one rosemary sprig, increase the water slightly, or simmer for less time.
- Substitutions: Fresh pear can replace apple, mandarin or tangerine can replace orange, and fresh thyme can replace rosemary.
- Dried fruit: Start with 4–6 dried apple slices and 3–4 dried orange slices if using dried fruit.
- Reuse: Cool the mixture promptly and reuse it later the same day. For next-day use, refrigerate it in a covered container and use within about 24 hours. Discard it if you notice mold, an unusual odor, or obvious deterioration.
- Slow cooker: Use the same ingredients with 5 cups of water on LOW. Keep the lid partly open or removed as appropriate, monitor the water regularly, and turn the appliance off whenever you cannot supervise it.