Anyone ever made a pomander?

If you have them put the cloves in randomly you will use far less than if they use patterns like lines, etc. I make them with my children every year and just for about a dozen oranges we use a full jar.

We do this as a family activity every christmas. I buy cloves in the Indian food section of our grocery; Swad brand has big bags of cloves for about the price of 2 jars. Kids will use as many cloves as you give them to use, and the size of the orange. Buy smallish oranges. It’s helpful to have an example or two so they don’t feel they should encrust the whole orange in cloves. I would give them them half a jar, or about 1/4 c. each.

Here’s a link showing some instructions; we have also used lemons, limes, and even clementines. But…the clementimes didn’t hold up well at all!
http://jas.familyfun.go.com/crafts?page=CraftDisplay&craftid=12088

I loved Family Fun when my kids were younger. They have all sorts of great crafts, and really cool costume ideas.

Alfreda: LOL, my daughter goes there to find projects we can do then gives me a shopping list!

@bythebay—do you use “regular sized” oranges, or small orange, like clementines? I read somewhere to use 5oz per orange which would be 320 oz for all the 5th graders!!

We used smaller oranges, lemons & limes. But for a class I would go with one choice (we did this when my daughter was in 5th grade in her class, too). I actually purchased large bags of the small navel oranges. And I purchased inexpensive ribbon at a dollar store. If they are smaller in size, they can be hung on the tree or wherever they choose. I would also give them toothpicks for piercing the orange first so the cloves wont break…but then collect the toothpicks afterward!

It also pays to make sure the oranges aren’t the kind that are lightly waxed. I didn’t know about that one year and my pomanders rotted and got moldy rather than drying out all nice.

My son, age 8, says that if you fill a small pudding dish a quarter full with cloves, that ought to do it. They just made pomanders this past week. He wants to warn you, that he got rips in his pomander because he pressed in too hard or put them too close. They were using clementines. He says you can use apples, too, or any kind of fruit.

Clementines arent the best choice because the skin is somewhat loose on the orange, I think. But my are they tasty!

I’ve never made one, but I can just smell it just from you gals talking. Yum. I have to do this.

The other thing that’s fun to make with kids is scented bath salts. I did that with my daughter’s 4/5 grade Montessori class. They had fun mixing the salt, scent and coloring.

Also cinnamon dough ornaments. Mix equal parts cinnamon and applesauce to form a dough. roll out and cut out shapes, making a hole at the top with a straw. Let dry for several days, then attach a loop of ribbon to hang as an ornament.

@AP – oohhh, that sounds good to do, too. Do they break easy? Can you keep them year to year?

They keep pretty well. I still have them. I rolled them out rather thick.

Thanks. I’ll have to try them.

How long does it take for the oranges to dry out, and how do you keep them from molding?

My wife and kids made cinnamon dough ornaments this year. Equal parts cinnamon and applesauce is a whole lot of cinnamon.

I got the recipe for the ornaments in an email last week. Yes, it sure does take a lot of cinnamon. But this recipe says to bake the ornaments for 2 1/2 hours at 200° & to let them cool on a wire rack. That’d be faster & easier than having them laying around drying for so long.

When I use cinnamon for those (instead of for eating, when quality matters), I pick up the big containers of it at the dollar store. Works fine.

@laureth, good idea! I sure wouldn’t buy the Watkins that I use in baking! Too much $$$.

Here is a calculation fror maximum number of cloves per orange:
Assuming an 4” diameter orange and cloves of 1/8” diameter.

Surface area of the orange is 4(pi)r^2= (4)(3.1416)(4)= 50.26 in^2
Surface area of each clove is (pi)(r^2)=(3.1416)(3.9E-3)=0,011 in^2
Theoretical maximum=50.26/0,011=4569
Realistic number is 80% of this +4569×0.8=3655 cloves per orange.

Math geek lurve. :)

@laureth That seems like a very high number but I checked both my figures and the formulae used. :^)