7 helpful tips when cooking with essential oils
In the next couple of months I am going to be sharing some food recipes incorporating essential oils. Here is a helpful resource on safe cooking and baking tips when using essential oils. Tip #1 being the most important of all the tips.
- If you are going to use essential oils for cooking please make sure that they are a food grade essential oil. 95% of essential oils that are available are not ingestible. They are not 100% pure and contain fillers and synthetic components that would be dangerous to ingest. doTERRA essential oils are one of the few essential oils that have been passed by the US FDA to be safe for consumption. To purchase 100% pure essential oils please click here
- Essential oils have a longer shelf-life than dried herbs or spices. They may seem more costly at initial purchase but will prove to be more cost effective over time.
- Don’t drop the oils directly into the recipe. Use a spoon to drop your oils onto to add to your recipe. This avoids more drops being added than you intended as some essential oils can come out of the bottle quicker than expected.
- When cooking with essential oils, start small. Add one drop at a time adding more if necessary to keep the oil from overpowering the recipe. I tend to like my food with a little bolder flavor. But I recommend to start, especially with hot oils like oregano or black pepper to use a toothpick to add oils to a recipe. Dip the toothpick into the oil then stir the toothpick into the recipe. Taste and add more according to your desired taste.
- When cooking (not baking) with essential oils, add the oils just before serving. Cooking with essential oils is different than cooking with spices. With spices the longer you simmer the more flavour mingles into the food. Essential oils are much different. If you heat them they will evaporate in the air through the steam.
- Heat will also alter the medicinal benefits of an essential oil. You will get the flavour and scent but the medicinal effects will be greatly diminished.
- Essential oils are highly concentrated and should always be used with caution. Keep out of reach of children.
Hi, I would like to bake with some oils. Is there a conversion chart available for substituting? Ex:wild orange eo for orange extract.
Hi Amanda, Great question. There is no conversion chart but because essential oils are so powerful I would not recommend putting any more than 2-3 drops of wild orange into a recipe. Also, make sure that the essential oil is pure food grade quality before ingesting any essential oil.