Potpourri Originates From Castle Stench
Wednesday, March 18th, 2009 Subscribe To Our Feed
Many of us currently enjoy the beautiful smells of potpourri gifts in the workplace or at home, which are used to heighten the atmosphere of our surroundings. Did you know that potpourri was once a necessity?
Castles are the source of the need for potpourri. Castles were originally designed with small windows in order to prevent objects, like arrows and stones, from entering into the castle. The small windows would usually cause the dampness of the castle to reek from poor ventilation. Eventually the castles would develop a musky stench.
Castle inhabitants began to place herbs throughout the rooms so they would have a nice smell in each and every room. If they did not, the rooms would end up smelling really bad and be undesirable to live in. The inhabitants constantly had to clean up the potpourri because the oils would evaporate and the herbs would begin to rot and add to the bad smells.
Potpourri was usually created in a special room found in the bottom of most castles. In these rooms, large containers were used to mix together various alcoholic beverages and herbs and spices. The mixtures would usually give off a very wonderful scent. Many of these fragrances would have seasonal appeal and be used accordingly. There were many fragrances that took years to a decade to age before they were ready to be used.
After a potpourri mixture had achieved the perfect smell, it would be delivered to particular locations and rooms all over the castle to make the air smell much better than it had. Occasional refreshing was needed to help the potpourri last for many years or even about a decade. All that was needed was a little added alcohol to help with the evaporation of the aroma into the area of the castle. At night, the potpourri containers would be capped to help preserve the aromas.
If you ever thought about making your own, or just purchasing potpourri, then search for free potpourri gift catalogs or just potpourri catalogs.
