Thrifty Eco-Friendly Air Fresheners

5 Low-Waste Air Fresheners for the Home

by 01/05/12

We all want our homes to smell fresh for winter company. But store-bought air fresheners can cost a fortune and often contain less-than-friendly chemicals. For a sweet scent that’s easy on the planet (and your wallet), check out these five all-natural air freshers that you can make yourself.

potpourri, flowers, dried flowers, air freshener, deodorizer, fragrance, smell, scent, dried spices, spicesCombine dried flowers with seasonal ingredients like fruit, pinecones and fresh spices for a warming scent. Photo: Flickr/goaliej54

1. Seasonal potpourri

Price: Less than $5

Homemade potpourri is a cheap and easy way to make your home smell inviting. For green brownie points and an extra-sweet scent, use ingredients you already have on hand and spice it up with some local and seasonal flare.

If you receive floral bouquets as host or hostess gifts this winter, save the dried flowers for potpourri. And don’t forget your own backyard! If you live in a warm climate, pluck some flowers from the garden, or pick up a few pinecones if you call a cooler state home.

Combine your foliage with fresh spices like cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg from the farmer’s market, and add some local fruits for a seasonal scent. Orange and grapefruit peels will make perfect additions for those in warm climates. If you live in a cool-weather state, set aside some cranberries while preparing your holiday dinner.

Make sure all the ingredients have dried completely, and combine them in the container of your choice to freshen any room of the house. As the scent wears off, toss in a few drops of your favorite essential oil to get the most out of your potpourri, and don’t forget to compost the leftovers!

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from:   http://earth911.com/news/2012/01/05/5-low-waste-air-fresheners-for-the-home/

Chemistry of Cooking

Chemistry Of Cooking
A Biochemist Explains The Chemistry Of Cooking

January 1, 2009 — A biochemist and cook explains that cooking is all about chemistry and knowing some facts can help chefs understand why recipes go wrong. Because cooking is essentially a series of chemical reactions, it is helpful to know some basics. For example, plunging asparagus into boiling water causes the cells to pop and result in a brighter green. Longer cooking, however, causes the plant’s cell walls to shrink and releases an acid. This turns the asparagus an unappetizing shade of grey.

You love to cook, but have you whipped up some disasters? Even the best recipes can sometimes go terribly wrong. A nationally recognized scientist and chef says knowing a little chemistry could help.

Long before she was a cook, Shirley Corriher was a biochemist. She says science is the key to understanding what goes right and wrong in the kitchen.

“Cooking is chemistry,” said Corriher. “It’s essentially chemical reactions.”

This kind of chemistry happens when you put chopped red cabbage into a hot pan. Heat breaks down the red anthocyanine pigment, changing it from an acid to alkaline and causing the color change. Add some vinegar to increase the acidity, and the cabbage is red again. Baking soda will change it back to blue.

Cooking vegetables like asparagus causes a different kind of reaction when tiny air cells on the surface hit boiling water.

“If we plunge them into boiling water, we pop these cells, and they suddenly become much brighter green,” Corriher said.

Longer cooking is not so good. It causes the plant’s cell walls to shrink and release acid.

“So as it starts gushing out of the cells, and with acid in the water, it turns cooked green vegetables into [a] yucky army drab,” Corriher said.

And that pretty fruit bowl on your counter? “Literally, overnight you can go from [a] nice green banana to an overripe banana,” Corriher said.

The culprit here is ethylene gas. Given off by apples and even the bananas themselves, it can ruin your perfect fruit bowl — but put an apple in a paper bag with an unripe avocado, and ethylene gas will work for you overnight.

to read more, go to:  http://www.sciencedaily.com/videos/2009/0112-chemistry_of_cooking.htm