Things to boil that gives the house a pleasant scent

[Maryring]

Title says... not all, but most. Looking to make the home smell not just okay, but really pleasant, and so I turn to the internets for advice on what makes wonderful scents.

[Eldan]

By boiling? That's difficult. I wouldn't boil most things for scent, as such. Try incense, maybe, or scent oils?

One tip that I know and have tried and seems to work is that boiling vinegar smells quite bad for a while, but also seems to eliminate other bad smells quite permanently.

[shawnhcorey]

I don't know about boiling but baking does seem to work. Try baking bread. You can buy frozen bread dough in your grocery. Just plop it in a pan and stick it in the oven. Viola, pleasant order.

[Xuc Xac]

Viola, pleasant order.

You accidentally spelled the second word correctly. I think you mean "viola, peasant order".

[Grey_Wolf_c]

Title says... not all, but most. Looking to make the home smell not just okay, but really pleasant, and so I turn to the internets for advice on what makes wonderful scents.

I second the "don't boil". But if you meant "cook", then any of the aromatics will work. For example, onions (cut small, heat up oil in the pan, add the onions, coat, cook on low temperature for 5 minutes). It'll give a nice smell to your entire house. Added advantage: now you have nice onions to add to anything you were planning to eat (pasta, fish, meat, potatoes, anything, really).

Grey Wolf

[Kneenibble]

In an anonymous text attributed to Thucydides, taken from Constantinople and now stored in Cairo, it was written that the King of Magadha boiled rubies in a silver pot over a flame of clarified butter in his private chambers to sweeten the air. The scent is described as χλιδɩκη.

[halfeye]

Not cabbages.

[Iruka]

If you do not insist on boiling something, pomander balls (https://www.almanac.com/content/how-make-pomander-balls#) smell pretty good, can easily be homemade and are also decorative.


Viola, pleasant order.

A delicious sentence, where anything between none and all might be spelled incorrectly.

[Grey_Wolf_c]

Not cabbages.

If you think your cabbages smell too much, you've overcooked them.

Grey Wolf

[Tvtyrant]

Title says... not all, but most. Looking to make the home smell not just okay, but really pleasant, and so I turn to the internets for advice on what makes wonderful scents.

My mom does this, so I know what you mean. The festive pot of brown smelly goo on the burner to make the house smell Christmassy is an old time tradition. I personally think potpourri is pretty gross but lots of people like it.

I don't think you are supposed to bring it over a simmer though. Ingredients my Mom uses includes mint sprigs, orange slices, cinnamon, vanilla, and those little red christmas berries (aka California Holly.)

[thorgrim29]

A few drops of vanilla on a baking sheet is an old realtor's trick.

[halfeye]

If you think your cabbages smell too much, you've overcooked them.

Grey Wolf

Brussel sprouts, just say no.

[JeenLeen]

Would boiling lemons lend a pleasant lemony scent?
I haven't tried it, but might next time I squeeze lemons for juice.

I guess the same question for apply for most aromatic fruits (which to me is mostly citrus).

Though I'd agree that baking something is more likely to give a good result (plus you have yummy baked goods), though I guess you'd have to watch it more closely to make sure it doesn't burn. At least with boiling you can just add more water if needed.

[Algeh]

The other thing that happens with boiling something is that it releases a lot of steam into your house unless you vent it somehow,, and that venting process would also take away a lot of the smell. The steam can be either a good idea or a bad idea depending on your overall humidity situation. (I used to boil water deliberately to try to up the humidity in a small apartment I had once, because that place got absurdly dry in winter. I'd also get towels wet, wring them until they were no longer dripping, and hang them on a drying rack in my bedroom in an attempt to up the humidity at night.)

Vanilla would be a logical thing to try since most people have it handy. Vanillin (artificial vanilla flavoring) would be cheaper and I don't know if you could really tell a difference in that situation (I haven't used it in decades). It's also possible to buy some frozen cookie dough and just bake a cookie or two at a time to get your house to smell like cookies most days.

If you decide you like the smell of garlic, it becomes very easy to have your house smell like garlic all of the time (as a kid, when I first read a bunch of books about vampires and such, I discovered that you can dump garlic salt all over a carpeted floor and down the heat vents, and your room will then smell like garlic for quite a while, and you will also get in a great deal of trouble with the household adults), but that's probably not what you're going for...

[Arutema]

If it actually boils, you've heated it too much, but I'm a fan of pouring 1-2 quarts of apple cider into an appropriately large crockpot, then adding a few cloves and a stick of cinnamon.

You also get a refreshing hot beverage out of it.

[OACSNY97]

Here's my easy homemade "potpourri" recipe using stuff from the kitchen based on typical sweet cooking spices. I use cinnamon (stick or ground, whichever I've got), nutmeg (nearly always ground), cloves (whole or ground, whichever I've got) and sometimes allspice (ground) and/or vanilla extract depending on my mood.

Fill a small sauce pan with water
Add spices- a couple of sticks of cinnamon or maybe a generous tablespoon of ground (there's usually no measuring), the nutmeg and/or allspice (take shaker jar and wave it at the pot), add cloves (generally around 6 to 12 whole or good shake with the shaker jar) and a few drops of vanilla.
Turn on stove burner to lowest setting and simmer until water is low
Add more water and you can reuse the spice mix at least three times



Title says... not all, but most. Looking to make the home smell not just okay, but really pleasant, and so I turn to the internets for advice on what makes wonderful scents.

[Imbalance]

Now I'm curious what boiled viola smells like.

[Jay R]

Boil your enemies, see them boiling before you, and hear the lamentations of their women.

[Scarlet Knight]

If you decide you like the smell of garlic, it becomes very easy to have your house smell like garlic all of the time (as a kid, when I first read a bunch of books about vampires and such, I discovered that you can dump garlic salt all over a carpeted floor and down the heat vents, and your room will then smell like garlic for quite a while, and you will also get in a great deal of trouble with the household adults), but that's probably not what you're going for...

Make sauce and for hours your home will smell like heaven on earth... or Nonna's, which is practically the same...

[Brother Oni]

If it actually boils, you've heated it too much, but I'm a fan of pouring 1-2 quarts of apple cider into an appropriately large crockpot, then adding a few cloves and a stick of cinnamon.

You also get a refreshing hot beverage out of it.

Mulled cider is a bit Christmas-sy to have all year round though.

Your home may also smell too much like a brewery, but that probably says more about the cider I drink. :smalltongue:

[moon shadow]

lavender oil,cinnamon

[ben-zayb]

Ginger, easily. Not to mention ginger water has a multitude of applications.

[Cyclops08]

Pepermint tea.
I make 32 oz at a time.
4 bags of Pepermint tea and 3 bags Lipton. Steep for 15 minutes. The whole house will smell minty fresh

[sktarq]

Make stock....

the long slow simmer of root veg, bones, etc takes hours anyway

the whole place smells like a roast dinner which is for many a nice scent.


a poaching temp cup of peppermint/spearmint/mint
(and can also do cucumber, tomato, or tamarind depending on what is available)

as for vinegar..it will clean out smells and if you use a cider vin it doesn't smell as sharp or toxic.

[Caerulea]

Now I'm curious what boiled viola smells like.
A lot like boiled violist. I'm told it improves the sound.

For the actual question, cinnamon or peppermint.

[Meaphe]

Lavender is always a great plant (If you grow it in your backyard I hope you like bees)

[Knaight]

Spice tea. Pick a black tea you like, that's not too fancy. Add cloves, cardamom, cinnamon, and other spices to taste (I tend towards coriander and nutmeg, but they're not in the core three). Boil it until it steams, and as a side effect the house will smell amazing.

[Ninja_Prawn]

I second (third?) lavender oil. It also helps you sleep!

Otherwise, tea tree oil is a good strong smell, but a bit... medicinal for general use. I've used rose oil, but that's a bit weak for spreading fragrance throughout a house.

When it comes to incense, I like the old classics, sandalwood and patchouli. I've got some lovely incense in Miller Harris' fleur oriental flavour too, but that was a limited edition so I don't burn it very often.

[zlefin]

Title says... not all, but most. Looking to make the home smell not just okay, but really pleasant, and so I turn to the internets for advice on what makes wonderful scents.

I'd start by going to a relevant store (like a home imporvement store); there's a wide array of scented candles, and other products (iirc there's some that are designed to be plugged into an outlet that slowly vaporize their contents over the period of a month so you don't need to change them often) specifically designed to add a pleasant smell to a home.

[Fevvers]

Coffee with chocolate and cardamoms in.

Smells like Luxury Space Existentialism.

[Calimehter]

Kinda niche, but homebrewing beer with dark malt makes the house smell great during the boil.

Edit: Dark beer only IMO. Light lager is fine and all, but the boil misses out on all the coffee and roasted scents . . . it just smells kind of like wet cereal.