Cooking preparations are not just about nourishing our bodies; it’s also an art form that allows us to explore flavors, experiment with ingredients, and create delightful experiences. While we often rely on traditional herbs and spices to add depth to our dishes, there’s another secret ingredient that can take your cooking to the next level: pure essential oils. In this blog, we will dive into the world of cooking with essential oils and discover how they can elevate and enhance our culinary creations.
Pure essential oils are highly concentrated extracts derived from various plants, capturing their aromatic, health, and flavor compounds. A plant’s essential oil is known as its “soul” or “essence”.
Benefits of Cooking with Essential Oils:
- Intense Flavor: Essential oils offer a potent burst of flavor, often more concentrated than dry or fresh plant matter. A single drop can infuse your dish with aromatic essence, enhancing the overall taste.
- Hard-To-Find Ingredient Substitute: For example, fresh lavender flowers cannot be found easily and at certain times of the year, impossible to get.
- Versatility: Essential oils can be used in a wide range of dishes, from savory to sweet. Whether you’re preparing a salad dressing, marinade, soup, or dessert, there’s an essential oil that can complement and elevate the flavors.
- Health Benefits: Their therapeutic properties can support overall well-being. For example, peppermint oil may aid digestion, while lemon oil can provide antioxidants and astringent constituents.
- Learn How to Support Your Health: By experimenting with different essential oils, researching and getting to know the specific oils you plan to use, may open your mind and help you to think outside of the box when it comes to new methods of meal preparations & health support.
- Cost-Effective: There are approximately 600 drops of essential oil in each 1 oz. bottle. It takes around 80 lemons to make 1 oz. of essential oil!
General Guideline:
Tips for Cooking with Essential Oils:
- A Little Goes A Long Way; It may be best to start with only 1 drop and work up dish by dish. Essential oils are highly concentrated, so a little goes a long way. I personally started with 5 drops and the taste overpowered the meal. Begin by adding a single drop to your recipe and gradually increase if desired. Remember, it’s easier to add more flavor than to dilute an overpowering taste. This also helps to disperse the flavor all throughout the dish.
- Dilute when Necessary: Some essential oils, such as oregano or cinnamon, can be quite potent and may require dilution. To avoid overwhelming your dish, consider diluting the oil with a carrier, depending on what your ingredients are. Due to essential oils needing a lipid carrier, one may already be present in your dish.
- Choose Flavors That Are Complimentary to Your Dish: Experiment with different essential oils to find combinations that work well together. For example, lavender oil can add a subtle floral note to desserts, while herbaceous oils like basil, rosemary, or thyme oil can enhance the flavors of Italian-inspired dishes.
- Timing is Key: Essential oils are volatile and can lose their potency when exposed to high heat for extended periods. To preserve their flavors, it’s best to add essential oils towards the end of the cooking process or even as a finishing touch.
- Understand Essential Oil Volatility: Some compounds and flavor components may be lost if they are heated too long or at high temperatures. Get to know your oils!
Delicious Oil Additive Ideas:
- By adding a drop of lemon to your chicken and seafood dishes, especially when you add a dash of white wine.
- Mints, like peppermint may be tasty as an additive to chocolate flavored desserts or in ice teas.
- Most herbaceous oils, such as basil, thyme, rosemary, go well with tomato dishes, such as Bruschetta, pasta, and most Italian meals. . It also synergizes with other oils like garlic, to create your own taste!
- Bay Laurel is commonly known as “Bay Leaf”, which many others steep in soups, stews, and pasta sauces.
- Asafoetida is a popular Indian spice! It is also known as “Hing” or “ferula”. It has a garlicy aroma, and it is said to have an onion flavor, which may be why it is often paired with these same spices in food. It is said to enhance their taste and it goes well in curries and meats.
- Carrot essential oil is actually also known as “Queen Anne’s lace”, which is often the plant used to distill “Carrot” oil! There may be different ideas to be found by looking at recipes from different cultures! Some cultures call it by one name or the other.
- Add a punch of flavor to your bread by adding a drop or two of orange essential oil.
- I love to add garlic essential oil to my pasta noodle water, enhancing the noodle itself with a garlicy flavor. I also love to add it to my finished macaroni and cheese dishes.
- Add a drop of lemon essential oil, rather than fresh zest, or to invigorate your cup of tea!
- Some essential oils known for their flavor, may not exhibit the flavors in the oils themselves. For example, vanilla essential oil probably will not give food a vanilla flavor. However, it may result in a magnificent vanilla scent.
- Create your own healthy synergies by experimenting with different flavors. Do your own research and look up the benefits of each, individual oil, to create a menu that has the health properties, adaptogens, and the type of support that you are seeking!
- There is always the choice to use blends of essential oils as well, which offer multidimensional flavor and benefits! This is especially the case with our Garlic Tears, a trio of garlic, asafoetida, and black pepper!
Exercising Caution When Using Essential Oils:
- THE most important factor is to only use high-quality, food-grade essential oils, such as our own, found below. This ensures there are no harmful additives to your oils.
- Always follow the recommended guidelines for essential oil use, including the dilution, if any, and at what time it may be best to add to your preparation.
- Essential oils are corrosive to plastic, especially in their pure form. Only use wood or silicone utensils to stir the essential oil in. Afterward, soak the utensil in hot, soapy water and wash it well.
- Do your research before you plan to use the oil, giving you time to plan out the appropriate steps.
- Always start with 1 drop. It will be much easier to add more if needed, than to attempt to dilute a strong flavor.
- Do not use essential oils in place of any medications and always consult your practitioner with any questions and your intentions when it comes to essential oil use.
- It is very important to stay away from essential oils in high amounts during pregnancy. Essential oils are even more concentrated than many herbs/spices are in powdered form.
- Last, but not least, you must heed caution with essential oils if you are on specific medications. Essential oils are potent and known potentiators and for lowering the effects of some medications. The actions of the plant/oil may counteract, lessen, or make your medications even stronger! Consult your physician beforehand if you are taking medication.
Cooking with pure essential oils opens up a world of possibilities, allowing you to explore new dimensions of taste and aroma in your culinary creations. In moderation, with a little experimentation, and using individual creativity, you can transform your dishes into extraordinary culinary masterpieces. So, go ahead and embark on this aromatic journey, and let the flavors of essential oils tantalize your taste buds like never before!
Click Here to view our food-grade, “Culinary Essential Oil Package”, where we have detailed information on the flavors of each oil.
