And it’s not for lack of trying!
Every year our family picks out a pumpkin for our front step. The girls search the pumpkin patch for what seems like hours, and right when it feels like the sun will set on us as a pumpkin-less family, there it is: the one. We take it home and set it proudly in front of our door and enjoy coming home to it every day.
Then, a few weeks later, Katy pulls out a faded, splattered recipe given to us by a childhood friend and gets to work with our girls. They carve off the top, scoop out the inside, and slice it up for baking. Soon, the house is filled with the aroma of pumpkin, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
For years, I’ve tried to replicate this in a candle and have always failed. Why?? Pumpkin fragrances are notoriously, nauseously sweet. Like someone burnt caramel, stuck it in a blender without the lid on, and exploded the stickiness all over your kitchen.
We’ve sifted through fragrance after fragrance from lots of companies, and still, it eludes us.
Until now.
Like Dorthy's way home, the answer was in an oil we had years ago. Back then, we didn’t know how long it can take for scent molecules to bind with wax molecules, so when we burnt the only pumpkin fragrance we ever loved, it produced literally no scent. This year, we let it sit substantively longer than our other candles and the result was incredible cinnamon-y, pumpkin goodness.
We’re having such a fun R&D month on top of running around keeping up with orders! Next month, we’ll be releasing THREE limited edition “first batch” candles that you can buy and weigh in on whether they have a permanent place at Joy Lane Farm! Stay tuned!
In the meantime, what would you call a pumpkin candle?? Comment suggestions below. We're still searching for a name!
Joel and Katy