Cloves and Kumquats
Fresh, scrubbed
One of our favourite Hitty activities of the season…
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cloves and kumquats
…all you need are Whole Cloves and fresh Kumquats!
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Pierced
The cloves go in easily if you pierce the kumquat’s skin with a skewer first…
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sniff
…they smell so good!
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So pleased
Willa and Henrietta invite you to try! The little pomander balls dry quickly since they are so small. They are nice to just have around to sniff, but are also nice tossed into a mulled wine, or hot spiced apple cider!
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Quimper Hittys 
Hello Quimper Ladies!
We seem to have a problem importing cloves here in the UK, so no pomander making with cloves, Kris root powder, cinnamon and oranges again this year. No matter! The ones we made four years ago are completely dried out now, but still smell wonderful.
Don’t you find Christmas preparations as exciting as Christmas day itself? We are busy waxing our furniture, finding Hitty size candles, making popcorn and dried fruit strings for the wild birds and ginger parkin. There’s marzipan to make for the big people came and shopping to do too! It’s all such fun!
Lots of love,
Not Quite Nifty Roberta xxxxx
I wondered whether the kumquats would arrive this year…many local shops were skeptical! There were cloves in the shops though…I am sorry you haven’t been able to get any, but it is true that the dried out ones retain the citrusy clovey smell for years! Good luck with all your seasonal preparations!
Oops, Kindle has “corrected” my spelling again😂. Love, Roberta NOT QUITE HITTY!!!
Ha, I thought not quite nifty was quite cute, but I am sure inaccurate!
I am sending two little Hitty hugs to your dears Willa and Henrietta for another uplifting and no doubt fragrant little encouraging narrative today. Thank you.
Thanks for the little Hitty hugs, the sweet girls really appreciate it! It certainly was fragrant!
We are having some unusual shortages here also. It seems every week it’s some items back and some gone. It makes me realize how blessed we have always been to be able to get anything I wanted in the past.
I think our stores still have cloves but not sure about the kumquats…I will be sure to look because your little balls look so nice and I am sure the aroma is wonderful.
We love this little project, sweetly spicily scented and pretty quick, though we were surprised at how many clove fit into a little kumquat! I would make them for the crafty advent calendar but the kumquats are never in the shops in time!
We do the same thing, but with oranges. Then, hand them out to friends…. and old medieval custom. I love to eat said oranges with the spiciness of clove, too.
Yes, an old tradition shrunk down to Hitty scale, we love to do this every year when we can!
I’ve never seen pomanders made with cumquats, only oranges. I must give it a try once there are some on the neighbour’s tree. The ones we get here are much smaller and more oval than the ones the Hittys used, but I think it’ll still work.
The fruits are small so they make up quickly, dry quite rapidly and they still have that wonderful clovey citrus oil scent. Give it a try, hopefully cloves are available!
I have cloves, and I also have firm-skinned mandarins. Maybe I’ll try with one of those!
we never made these growing up…I suspect that sacrificing an orange for a pomander was not in the budget! But I have made them as an adult…ohhhh the aroma. Love your little ones and your girls making them.
I remember the excitement of the moment that the “Japanese oranges” arrived each winter…it is funny how little things bring memories forward – the scent of these little pomander balls are memories of winter fun for me!