From evergreens to spices, here’s how to fill your home with a festive aroma
HOLIDAY | Laura Depta, CTW Features
Holiday decorating isn’t just about making a home look beautiful – it’s about filling the space with holiday treats and trimmings that appeal to all five senses.
If scent is the strongest sense tied to memory, then certainly a home overflowing with warm, festive aromas will help make the holiday season especially memorable.
A traditional, live Christmas tree is a great place to start.
Dr. Bert Cregg, associate professor in the department of forestry at Michigan State University, says that scent is one of the primary reasons why people choose to purchase live Christmas trees.
“The tree is part of the overall experience,” says Cregg, a prominent researcher of Christmas tree systems. “I think three factors – the tradition, the experience and then of course the scent – if you’re talking about why people have a real tree instead of a fake tree.”
Tree popularity depends somewhat on what part of the United States consumers live in, but in terms of the most aromatic, there are a few sure-fire home runs.
“Fraser fir certainly has a very pleasant scent,” says Cregg. “But balsam fir is – in terms of scent – probably at the top of the list. Balsam fir has what most people would describe as a Christmas tree scent.”
Cregg also recommends noble fir for consumers in the northwestern United States and concolor fir for those who appreciate a more unique look.
“Concolor fir can have a very bluish color to it,” says Cregg. “But the unique thing about concolor fir is that it has a very pronounced scent – a very pleasant scent – and it reminds most people of a citrus-y smell.”
With any tree, Cregg stipulates that the key to retaining scent is retaining needles, and the ways to do that are to buy the tree as fresh as possible and to make sure it stays hydrated.
“You just want to keep the water to them,” says Cregg. “And the fact that they’re going through a lot of water is a good thing. That means that the tree is functioning and it’s keeping those needles fresh, going to keep the scent going.”
In addition to a beautiful tree, all that holiday cooking will certainly fill any home with delicious smells.
Beatrice Ojakangas, author of The Great Holiday Baking Book (University of Minnesota Press, 2001), recommends baking yeast breads or anything with sweet spices – cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg – to really saturate the air with those warm holiday fragrances.
“Those are the things that people notice if they step in the door and you’ve been baking,” says Ojakangas. “You bake with certain spices through the holiday season, and that kind of decorates the air.”
In terms of cooking, she recommends a roast. “Whenever you’re cooking, you’re going to put aromas into the air and that’s a good thing,” says Ojakangas. “But the ones that end up being particularly holiday I think are the sweet spices, and I do things like rub them into roasts.”
If the needles on a real tree or the nuances of baking aren’t particularly preferable, don’t worry. There are always alternative ways to keep a home smelling wonderful.
If a tree is simply too big or too much hassle, consider purchasing a real wreath as a more manageable option. The Yankee Candle Co. offers their classic jarred candles both in Balsam Fir and Christmas Cookie scents, and candles have the added benefit of looking beautiful, too. Diffusing pure essential oils like clove or cinnamon is another way to get that same aromatic effect.