How to use essential oils to create flavours

When it comes to adding zest and flavour to our foods, knowing where to start can be needlessly challenging. Therefore, for many people, learning how to use essential oils to create flavours is highly recommended. You can spend hours putting in the wrong kind of ingredient to help turn your food into something spectacular. Or, you could save a lot of time and simply start using essential oils to create the corresponding flavours that you want. It’s not hard to learn, and the results can be hugely impressive if you work towards them in the right manner.

To do that, we’ve got some useful ideas for your below on how to use essential oils to create flavoursome foods.

Can I eat an essential oil?

Given that essential oils often come with usages limits and requirements, you might be hesitant about trying this. Fear not, though: essential oils are 100% edible. In the right dose, they are perfect for flavouring. If you have ever used a natural mint lip balm, for example, you’ve sampled the taste of an essential oil!

Getting the right quantity is the most important part. If you go too far, you could make the concentration too high. This is why it’s highly recommended that you follow the suggestions on any food grade essential oils that you buy.

Best practice for using essential oils to create flavours

• First off, do some research into the potency of any oil that you use. Some are stronger than others and might need a lot less essential oil than you might have first expected.
• Make sure that you use food grade essential oils, too. Many people try to use normal essential oils, but it’s often not as strong. Indeed, since natural essential oils are 3-4x as strong as typical baking extracts, it’s best to be minimalistic.
• Try and get used to using the tiniest amounts, as too much can utterly ruin the dish. We recommend that you use a toothpick to try and pick out the smallest amount and drip that into your mixture. It’s better to have too little than too much. You can add more, but you cannot remove an excess!
• If you want a decent idea of how much to use, then try and think of a teaspoon of any herb/spice as being a single drop. This is the potency of an essential oil for food. A single drop, sometimes 2, is often more than enough to add the taste and scale that you want in your dishes.
• Always take it slowly when using essential oils to create flavour. The strength of an essential oil can be quite overpowering, especially at higher levels. For things like citrus essential oils, be sure to be as small as you can with every placement: even a little too much can be excessive.

So, what will you try and make first?

Essential oils for flavouring are very impressive and make a huge difference to the end product. So long as you are willing to experiment a little, you will find it very easy indeed to make a meaningful difference with essential oils. Just remember that less is more when it comes to flavouring food with essential oils!