How to Use Extracts, Essential Oils, Flavorings in Raw Recipes

Using Extracts and Flavorings

What is the difference between extracts, flavorings, and essential oils? Unfortunately, many recipe designers loosely interchange these words, which can create disappointing results for the end maker of the recipes. Many extracts substitute well for each other. For instance, almond extract works instead of vanilla extract or lemon extract instead of lime extract. But some will alter the taste of your dish, so be sure the new flavor will complement the other ingredients in your recipe.

Not all extracts, flavorings, or essential oils are interchangeable across the board. Extracts are concentrated in flavor, have a watery consistency, but are less dominant than flavorings or essential oils. Flavorings have a thicker texture (like a syrup) and are more intense than extracts. I don’t care too much for using them because of how they are made. Essential oils are my favorite but require great awareness when using them. They are incredibly potent, so you have to be careful how you add them. You also need to know what oils are safe for internal use.

Extracts, Flavorings, and Oils are not the same.

Extracts

To explain how extracts are made, let’s use the analogy of making a pot of coffee. Every time you brew coffee, you’re essentially creating an extract. In this case, that means running a solvent (water) through a product (ground coffee beans) to withdraw the flavor compounds producing an extract (the brewed coffee). Unlike your roasted coffee beans, however, the flavor compounds and essential oils found in most botanicals are not water-soluble, but rather oil-soluble.
Alcohol is used with water to extract solvents and to keep the essential oils from separating. For this same reason, solvents are used to maximize the extraction of flavor compounds that aren’t water-soluble. Mose extracts contain propylene glycol (a liquid alcohol which is used as a solvent, in antifreeze, and in the food, plastics, and perfume industries) or polysorbate (Polysorbates are a class of emulsifiers used in some pharmaceuticals and food preparation).
Extracts are less intense than oils and are added when you want the flavor to play in the background rather than take a starring role.
You can search the Web and learn how to make your own extracts if that interests you.

Flavorings

Natural flavors – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration requires natural flavors to be created from an edible source, such as vegetables, fruits, meat, poultry, dairy, herbs, and spices. Scientists, called flavorists, use derivatives of these products to create over 2,000 chemicals that make up 500 natural flavors. Interestingly, flavors may come from unexpected sources. For example, to create lemon flavoring, flavorists use the citral chemical found in lemon peel, lemongrass, or lemon myrtle. (1)
Flavorists mix up 70 to 80 combinations of chemicals to get the exact smell and taste for natural and artificial flavorings. It truly is a science. So if you think you are getting real banana in that bottle of banana flavoring, you might want to guess again.
Flavors typically contain preservatives, emulsifiers, solvents, and other “incidental additives,” which can make up 80% or so of the formulation. Some of the most common incidental additives in flavors include sodium benzoate, glycerin, potassium sorbate, and propylene glycol (none of which are labeled).
If I use “flavors,” I get them from Medicine Flower. Their flavors are cold-processed using an extraction method without the use of any colorants, fillers, diluting agents, or preservatives. They are wildcrafted or sustainably grown and non-GMO. Best of all they are in water and oil-soluble bases, and they don’t contain any sugar, calories, and are wheat- and gluten-free. You still have to watch their ingredients if you are 100% vegan.

Side Note – Artificial Favoring

If you ever pick up a bottle of extracts or flavoring and it reads, “artificial,” put it down, back away slowly, and depart the aisle.
Artificial flavors – Flavorists make artificial flavors by combining chemicals made from inedible ingredients, such as paper pulp or petroleum. Artificial flavors are made to smell and taste exactly like natural flavorings. They also must pass stricter safety testing. But even so, organic purists believe that artificial flavors can cause a host of health problems. (1)

Essential Oils

Not all essential oils are created equally. Many companies compromise them by adding synthetics, contaminants, or cheap fillers, or by using unethical production practices. Look for brands that extract the oils through careful steam distillation and cold-pressing, resulting in the purest essential oils.
Oils are more concentrated, pure-tasting, and come with nutritional benefits where flavors and extracts don’t.
In chocolate making, essential oils are great to add because they are oil-based whereas water-based flavorings do not work as well.
If you want the flavor to be more pronounced with a healthy kick added, reach for oils. A good rule of thumb is 1 teaspoon of extract = 1-3 drops of oil.

Below, I will touch base on some of the basic extracts and flavors that you commonly find in pantries. The descriptions are based on what the local grocery store sells, not Medicine Flower (which I recommended them above) since it is an online company and most people don’t have a stock of their flavors in the pantry.