Think essential oils are just for aromatic or topical purposes? Think again!
Certain oils can be incredibly useful in the kitchen. You can use essential oils in salad dressings, drinks, and smoothies, in place of dry seasonings or herbs, and in baking, just to name a few.
Before I go any further, it is crucial to understand what essential oils are.
Essential oils are highly concentrated extracts from plants – depending on the oil, they can be extracted from their leaves, bark, and roots.
They have long been used for food preparation, beauty treatments, and healthcare practices. Just make sure the brand of essential oils you use is suitable for internal use (not all are, some are just for aromatherapy).
Essential oils have a lot of flavour, and because they are rarely called for in recipes, it is important to know when to add them.
A good rule of thumb is to add them toward the end of the cooking process to preserve the most flavour.
You can always turn to herbs and spices for flavour and aroma, but sometimes it is just easier and more powerful to add a drop or two per day of a food-safe essential oil instead of spending time chopping, slicing, and preparing herbs and spices. An essential oil can also take the place of artificial flavourings (think “orange extract” or “lemon flavouring”) in recipes.
Below we look at some of the ways to use essential oils in cooking.
Note: Before using essential oils, it is important to educate yourself. Never give essential oils to babies, toddlers, or animals for internal use without proper guidance. Always consult with a medical professional, if you have health issues and especially if you are pregnant or breastfeeding.
If used incorrectly (undiluted or improperly diluted) they can harm your gut flora, digestive tract lining, liver, or kidneys. In fact, some of the most popular essential oils should not be consumed above certain dosages, so it is important to get all of the facts before cooking with them.
What are some of the best essential oils for cooking? These include lavender which is delicious in dessert foods like ice cream, peppermint which also adds a refreshing twist to many desserts, cinnamon which also adds a warm and spicy layer to your favourite meal, coffee or hot chocolate, and thyme which is perfect for savoury dishes like bone broth, soups or stews, and ginger which is a terrific digestive aid that can be delicious on sushi.
Here are ways to use essential oils in cooking.
Add celery seed oil to your soups
Some people might prefer to keep the celery because they like the added texture, but if you do not care for celery that much, you can always add a drop of the oil to enhance the flavour and aroma of your soup dishes.
Add a drop to smoothies to boost flavour
If you would like to preserve the nutrients and harness the therapeutic benefits of the essential oils, a great way is to add a drop to your smoothies. Add spinach or kale to fruit smoothies and take the taste up a notch with some lemon, wild orange, or lime essential oil.
Give your cinnamon-based recipes flavour
As mentioned above, cinnamon essential oil works very well in sweet dishes. Think cinnamon French toast, you could add a drop into the eggs before dipping the toast into it, or to give an extra cinnamon boost to cinnamon rolls.
You can also use cinnamon essential oil in homemade pancakes or waffles, muffins, bread, pumpkin pie, and other sweet recipes.
Ever tried peppermint hot chocolate?
Make yourself a cosy mug of hot chocolate and add one or two drops of peppermint essential oil. You will love the refreshing scent of mint drifting above the shiny chocolate.
Make buttery sauce
Use this buttery sauce on vegetables, potatoes, or meat. You can also store it for a few weeks in the refrigerator. All you have to do is to mix half a cup of melted butter and one to two drops of essential oil (rosemary, thyme, oregano, etc) in a bowl and your sauce is ready.
Bake with rose oil
Rose is such a light and exotic flavour; most people do not realise it cannot be used in their baking goods. It makes a great top flavour for something that has a stronger food taste. It is great mixed into the frosting, icing, or as a filling in rich cakes. If the filling is strong, a cake flavoured with rose essential oil will turn nicely because it is so light and fresh.
Bring a very special hint to your dishes with ginger
The flavour of ginger is very characteristic. Strong, spicy, and slightly sweet, they might combine in many ways and bring a very special hint to your dishes. Besides its flavour, ginger essential oil is known for its benefits as a digestive and in traditional medicine as a painkiller. Dilute a couple of drops of ginger essential oil in a lentil stew, for instance. Smoothies, soups, sauces, or creams are good options to add this tasteful essence. Try adding two or three drops of ginger essential oil to pumpkin cream to get a very special hint of flavour.