Say Goodbye To Odors: The Kitchen Herb That Naturally Keeps Your Home Smelling Fresh

Let's face it: Our homes can get smelly sometimes. Whether it's the scent of the fish you cooked for dinner last night, stale shoes, or something your kids dragged in from outside, everyone wants to learn more ways to keep their home smelling good. One of the best methods for this is actually hiding in the herb garden on your kitchen windowsill. While you may only think of using it for culinary purposes, your rosemary plant could actually be the key to naturally keeping your home smelling fresher.

Rosemary (Salvia rosmarinus) is a common Mediterranean kitchen herb that has uses in a wide variety of dishes. It's known for its fresh earthy scent and its almost pine-tree-like appearance of thick stalks and small, pointed green leaves. The fragrance of the plant is what gives it its air-purifying qualities. The oils that are released from the rosemary contain antimicrobial properties that latch onto odors and help bring a grounding feeling to a space.

With the rising consumer awareness of the potential dangers of chemical-based air fresheners, it is worth your while to give rosemary a try as an all-natural alternative air freshener. There are a few different ways you can go about utilizing it for this purpose, but people have commented on the herb's ability to both freshen a space and provide an uplifting atmosphere.

On its own, a rosemary plant is not going to be enough to purify the air in your space. It may work in small spots, but for larger spaces it needs to be helped along. Boiling rosemary is one of the best ways to activate the essential oils within and release them into the atmosphere of your home.

To do this, simply take a few stalks of rosemary and place them in a pot filled with water. Allow that to come to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Keep this going for as little as 15 minutes or up to a few hours, depending on how long you want things to last. The scent of the rosemary will soon fill your house, and you can couple it with other aromatics like citrus, cinnamon, or star anise. These will provide added depth and additional warmth to the scent filling your home.

You can also use rosemary oil as an air freshener by mixing it with rice and making small packets that can be left around the house. The oil mixes with the rice to create a subtle diffuser perfect for putting in closets, dressers, or pantries, as rosemary is also excellent at repelling flies. There is little to no risk in boiling or packaging rosemary, so give it a try the next time you feel your house could do with some air freshening.