How to Make Incense – Orange Peel Incense

This recipe teaches you how to make incense at home with leftover orange peels. 🍊

Whether it is lemon, lime, orange, pomelo, or grapefruit, their peels can be used to make powdered incense.

You can use your homemade citrus incense to relax your stress, repel unwanted bugs, make your home smell good, or measure time in meditation and yoga.

Chinese culture has more than “bing chilling”🍦~ Let‘s experience the elegance of ancient Chinese through the charm of incense.

What is Incense Powder?

Different from stick incense (线香), which most people are more familiar with, powder incense is made up of loose granules that are burned directly on an ash bed.

The method of burning incense powder was originated in the Song dynasty in China.

Powdered incense is also known as seal incense (篆香, zhuan xiang) in Chinese. To use seal incense, we will fill a metal incense burner with firmly pressed white ash. A small metal plate is hollowed out a pattern to form a seal. We place this metal plate on the ash bed, and spoon incense powder into the plate to fill the pattern. Then we remove the mold, and light one end of the incense seal.

The white ash under the seal incense is mostly diatomaceous earth (a natural, fossilized algae that forms as a soft sedimentary rock) with traces of types of clay such as bentonite and pearlite. It is used for holding incenses and protecting the burner you’re using. The ash is lightweight and breathable to permit the flow of oxygen to the surface, which encourages even, efficient burning of incense.

The ritual of spooning, pressing, scraping, and burning the seal incense has a calming, meditative effect. Each step requires a lot of patience. You have to be very calm and focused to get a perfect incense seal. As long as you don’t pay attention, the shape of seal incense will be destroyed.

Perhaps it is the charm of incense. Only by being careful, meditating, and patient, can you produce a good incense seal and appreciate the peaceful, calm and relaxed atmosphere brought by the incense. 

Benefits of burning incense

Incense has been used for centuries in religious and spiritual ceremonies and in people’s daily lives. Incense powder is usually made from a variety of herbs, spices, and other natural ingredients, which have miraculous healing powers to your body and mind.

Some benefits of burning incense include but not limited to:

• Purify the air: A study suggested that one hour treatment of medicinal smoke emanated by burning wood and herbs caused over 94% reduction of bacterial counts, and the ability of the smoke to purify the air was maintained up to 24h in the closed room.

• Relieve stress and aid sleep: Lavender and frankincense has been associated with reduced stress and improved sleep in multiple research studies. Burning lavender or frankincense incense can promote relaxation and help you fall asleep faster and more comfortably.

• Measure time in meditation and yoga: Ancient Chinese use incense as a clock. When you know the burning rate of your seal incense, you can always use it as a timer, which could be a great addition to your yoga and meditation routine.

• Repel unwanted insects: Today, Chinese people still use incense for repelling insects – especially mosquitoes during summertime! Small bugs usually hate the smell of citrus. Therefore our homemade citrus incense can also be used as an effective insect repellent.
• Make your room smell nice: You will of course have a better mood when your room is filled with natural warm pleasurable aromas.

Equipment you will need:

• peeler
• Microwave
• Food Processor  (Or mortar and pestle)
• fine mesh strainer
• powdered incense burner kit (or wax candle warmer)

Note: The powdered incense burner kit I bought on Amazon didn’t come with the white ash or the stick incenses. You may need to buy these two things in a separate order.

An easier method of using powder incense is heating it over a wax candle warmer. You can just use your homemade powder incense as scented wax.

INGREDIENTS list:

• 2 oranges
• 1 pomelo (You can use a combination of any type of citrus, such as orange, lemon, lime, grapefruit, kumquat…)

Step-by-Step Instructions:

– How to Make Incense with Citrus Peels:

1. Wash and dry some citruses of your choice. (I used 1 pomelo and 2 oranges.) Use a peeler to peel off the colored outer skin.

2. Evenly spread the zest pieces over a plate, microwave on 100% powder for 5 minutes until they turn crispy.

3. Use a food processor (or mortar and pestle) to grind the zests into powder.

4. Sift the zest powder with a fine mesh strainer.

5. Put the fine zest powder in a small glass bottle, close the lid.

6. Store your homemade incense in a cool and dry place away from heat and direct sunlight. Use within 1 year.  

– To Burn Powder Incense

1. Press the white ash (see note) tightly with an ash press to make the surface flat.

2. Gently place the incense mold on the center of the flat white ash.

3. Press the handle of the incense mold with the index finger of your left hand lightly, use your right hand to pour the incense powder into the mold.

4. Use an incense shovel to scrape the incense powder to fill the slot evenly.

5. Use the top of the incense shovel to tap the handle and the edge of the mold to separate the incense powder from the slot, so that the incense powder won’t stick to the mold at the next step.

6. Hold the handle of the incense mold, lift it up slowly and vertically. In this way, an incense seal (香篆 xiāng zhuàn) is formed.

7. Light a stick incense with a match or lighter, use the stick incense to light one end of the incense seal.

8. Put off the stick incense by inserting the burning tip into white ash. Cover the powder incense burner with its lid.

9. When smelling incense, the incense burner should be at least one foot away from the person. If it is too close, it will be a kind of disrespect for the incense, also the smell will be too strong to be appreciated.

My other citrus recipes you will also like: