Making Homemade Lotus Incense

For centuries incense has been used in temples and churches for its meditative properties and, more recently, for its beautiful fragrances in the home. Many enjoy the scent of lotus incense, but it can be a difficult scent to find. If you are one of the many who love the scent of lotus incense, perhaps this simple recipe for homemade lotus incense will be the answer to your prayers.

Tools And Ingredients

To make your own lotus incense, you will need to visit several craft, hobby, and natural food stores so as to gather the items you will need to create it. You will need to obtain dried lotus blossoms. If you are unable to find these in your local craft stores, you may want to have a lotus plant imported directly from Japan. You will need to harvest the blossoms, and dry them thoroughly, before you can make your lotus incense.

To make homemade lotus incense, you will need dried lotus petals; a mortar and pestle; a bowl for mixing; raisins or some other incense resin (found in your craft store); a drying rack and length of cheesecloth; a piece of charcoal; sand (craft sand, not cat sand) and a fire-safe dish. Place the raisins in the freezer so that they will be easier to grind. This is not necessary is using a resin bought from a craft store.

Once you have gathered all of the ingredients necessary to make your homemade lotus incense, place the dried lotus blossoms in the mortar. These need to be ground with the pestle until they are a fine powder. Set the lotus powder aside, and thoroughly wash your mortar and pestle. Once they are clean, place the partially frozen raisins into the mortar and grind until they have the consistency of fine sand.

Now you are ready to put the two ingredients of your lotus incense together. Place the lotus powder back into the mortar with the raisins or resin, and mix well. This mixture can now be shaped into lotus incense pellets which will then be burned. Place the pellets on the cheesecloth, and lay on the drying rack allow to dry thoroughly.

To burn your lotus incense, place about an inch of sand in the bottom of the fire-safe dish. Place a single piece of charcoal in the center of the sand, and light. Once the flame has gone out, place a few of the incense pellets on the top of the charcoal. The charcoal will heat the lotus incense, and release the beautiful, warm fragrance into your home.