Edible essential oils

[Lior]

I know it has been mentioned before, but my site search came up with nothing (as usual...).

I am looking for some good quality natural oils for chocolate and ganache. Can anybody offer some tried and liked sources?

Thank you!

Edited May 5, 2008 by Lior (log)

[Kerry Beal]

I really like the folks at Anatolian Treasures (www.av-at.com) for some of the more unusual essential oils. They also have the standard citrus oils. Prices are reasonable and they send a bunch of samples along with each order.

I started buying from them when I was looking for rose otto - that is their most exciting product.

I also get lots of oils from Xenex labs in Canada - (www.xenexlabs.com).

[Lior]

Thank you! thank you!! Can you tell me about the rose otto? Is it a rose oil?

[Kerry Beal]

Thank you! thank you!! Can you tell me about the rose otto? Is it a rose oil?

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Yup, it's the essential oil distilled from rose petals. Very expensive, but you can dilute it about 1 in 100 and still get nice flavour.

[Lior]

Now I have to ask another question! How do you dilute it? With what medium? Sorry for the ignorance....

I emailed them as their site is down temporarily.

[cdh]

The citrus oils from Boyajian are wonderful and would blend well with chocolate...

Link to Boyajian's website.

[Lior]

Thank you Chris! I will check the site out!

[Lior]

Checked them out! Are the flavors natural? It seems that ir says "natural strawberry flavor" for example. I assume it is oil based? I suppose I should write to them! So thanks for the link. Everyone is so wonderful and helpful!

[djyee100]

I haven't tried this source, but it sounds good. http://aftelier.com/store/index.php?main_p...88cb8a3b51d8976

The seller is the coauthor of the cookbook Aroma. http://www.amazon.com/Aroma-Magic-Essentia...10014694&sr=8-4

[Kerry Beal]

Now I have to ask another question! How do you dilute it? With what medium? Sorry for the ignorance....

I emailed them as their site is down temporarily.

←

I usually dilute with something like jojoba oil.

[Lior]

Well thank you! I see they even sell a tin to hold the oils in an organized way! Itis hard to have such a variety available!

[Lior]

Now I have to ask another question! How do you dilute it? With what medium? Sorry for the ignorance....

I emailed them as their site is down temporarily.

←

I usually dilute with something like jojoba oil.

←

Oh! And this doesn't change the taste and/or texture of the product-like ganache or chocolate? You do this because the flavour is so intense? I suppose the amount of jojoba oilis a few drops in the product so perhaps it is insignificant to taste or texture.

Thanks!

[Kerry Beal]

Now I have to ask another question! How do you dilute it? With what medium? Sorry for the ignorance....

I emailed them as their site is down temporarily.

←

I usually dilute with something like jojoba oil.

←

Oh! And this doesn't change the taste and/or texture of the product-like ganache or chocolate? You do this because the flavour is so intense? I suppose the amount of jojoba oilis a few drops in the product so perhaps it is insignificant to taste or texture.

Thanks!

←

Just a couple of drops needed of the dilute oil because it is so strong. You can't detect the carrier oil.

[Lior]

Oh that is what I figured- thanks so for sharing every time without fail! You are amazing. How many times have I told you that? I hope lots!

[Jan Stoel]

I have some edible, pure essential oils. Maybe this is a silly question, but I have to ask. I have mandarin, black pepper and rose and they smell like their 'normal' counterpoints. I also have lime, ginger and basil and they smell/taste far from what I think the flavour should be. The lime smells/tastes more like candy than a delicious citrus lime flavour.

Is this due to quality differences in essential oils or do some of them develop a different flavour when the products are concentrated into an oil?

[mostlylana]

Hi Ilana,

I get my essential oils from here: http://www.anandaapothecary.com/therapeuticgradeessential%3Cspan%20class=

They have a lot of organic oils.

Here's their page on ingesting oils which I found to be very interesting:

http://www.anandaapothecary.com/articles/essential-oils-safe-for-ingestion.html

Also, I emailed them about bergamot specifically as I couldn't find a bergamot essential oil that didn't say "not for internal use" - not even the organic ones. I also asked about rose. I don't know if he's correct in what he's saying about the roses not being sprayed. As a lover of roses with MANY plants - they are fussy babies and need to be fussed over if not using pesticides (which I don't). Although, perhaps the oil comes from the hardier varieties of roses...??? I think I'd get the organic to be sure.

Here's what they had to say:

All essential oils are really edible, but some in greater amounts than others. Bergamot and other citrus oils are cold pressed from the peels of bitter oranges, and is completely safe. Same as Geranium.

Rose, steam distilled, is not currently in stock; though we may have some soon. Rose absolute is solvent extracted, so cannot be 'organic'. The steam distilled, or 'otto' is quite pricey, and more so in an organic variety. The thing about roses, however, is that they are so hearty that they aren't sprayed, so the 'otto' is generally pesticide free - I CAN special order an organic 'otto'; I expect the price would be around US$1.5 per drop (yes, drop :-). We eat the absolute anyway, as any solvent is removed under vacuum pressure - and they usually use ethanol, the same alcohol in wine.

[zoe b]

I also have lime, ginger and basil and they smell/taste far from what I think the flavour should be. The lime smells/tastes more like candy than a delicious citrus lime flavour.

Is this due to quality differences in essential oils or do some of them develop a different flavour when the products are concentrated into an oil?

in the case of ginger, you probably have dried ginger EO--you need an EO made from fresh ginger to get the true fresh taste.

also, there are different limes--you'll need to experiment to find the one you like.

Basil, in my experience, never tastes or smells like fresh basil, but again, you may be able to find a truer one.

[Jenni]

This is probably a very stupid question, but how important it is to use essential oils that are produced specifically for eating? I have some that I use for making all-natural face creams - would it be very dangerous to use these in cooking? Is it because the oils may not be organic and thus would be high in pesticides, or is it because of the way they are processed into oils?

[mostlylana]

It's the way they're processed into oils. I can't remember the why's behind it though. When I called the company I linked to they explained it to me. I believe the oil will say "not for internal use" if you can't eat it. But I'm not sure...

[Jenni]

^^^

I wasn't going to use them until I definitely knew anyway.

It's just that there are some "for external use only" things which I have found to be mere overprecaution - I am talking in particular here about the pure mustard oil that in this country always seems to carry such a warning. I did once know the reason behind this, but can't remember now. It was something to with using mustard oil full stop, I think, not the particular brand of oil, and such things are easily shown to be nonsense with a quick look at how many Bengalis have died of eating mustard oil. Anyway, I know several restaurants and families who use it in their cooking quite happily. I wanted to know if the essential oil situation was over-precaution or genuine danger.

[Jmahl]

If you are looking for wide assortment of edible essential oils try Young Living Essential Oils. The web site is youngliving.com. My wife is a distributor and her I.D. Number is 847277. The edible oils are tested and certified as safe. e-mail me if you have any questions.

Jmahl

[RobertM]

I have used these people for years, good to deal with, reasonable pricing and their products are excellent:

https://www.lorannoils.com/