Martha Stewart Uses Citrus For An Easy And Edible Holiday Centerpiece
Let's face it, there are very few people we trust to bring holiday elegance and cheer into our homes as much as Martha Stewart. After all, she's the queen of turning nothing into something and making it look easy as pie (sometimes, an actual pie). While we adore some of her classic holiday tricks, like how to give cheese boards a fuller shape and how to properly display wine glasses at your holiday party, we're currently pretty obsessed with Martha Stewart's holiday citrus centerpiece.
To replicate the centerpiece, you'll need a few cake stands of varying sizes, oranges (also of varying sizes), cloves, cedar, evergreen, balsam fir, and spruce leaves. First, stack the cake stands on top of each other from the largest at the bottom to the smallest at the top. Next, fill in the spaces on the stands with oranges and pomanders, starting with the bigger fruits and filling in the gaps with the smaller ones. Finally, garnish the centerpiece with your leaves. The result will be a bright, fragrant statement piece that can be enjoyed visually or as a citrusy treat.
Pomanders are a tradition rooted in history
As it turns out, Martha Stewart's use of pomanders in this centerpiece is rooted in Christmas tradition. Pomanders began as perfume balls people would carry on their person to combat stench and disease back in the medieval epoch. Many began introducing these balls of fragrance into their homes, and that's how the clove-studded orange we know today came about. As time passed, decorating the home with pomanders when it was time to have guests over became common practice.
To craft the pomanders for your centerpiece, Martha Stewart recommends applying a rubber band around each of the oranges to use as a guide for placing the cloves. Make things easier for yourself by using a skewer or nail to establish pre-punched holes for the cloves to go through. Then, you can remove the rubber band and create as many rows or designs as you'd like. You can choose to use all pomanders in your display, a variety of plain oranges and pomanders, or just regular oranges by themselves.
Additionally, while oranges are a scent synonymous with the holidays, you can use other fruits like apples and lemons as well. Other garnishes work great, too, like rosemary, juniper, cinnamon sticks, star anise, pomegranates, or poinsettias for visual contrast. Stewart uses three levels in her centerpiece, but you can stack as many stands as you'd like. Or, simplify things by using just one dish or board and arranging the oranges in a pleasing display.