Cooking with Essential Oils Part 1

Everyone is talking about essential oils these days.  Essential oils can either be used aromatically, topically or internally.  In this 3 part series of posts, I will be sharing ways you can use essential oils in the kitchen along with some delicious recipes.

It’s About Nutrition

We live in an era where foods are high in flavor but devoid of nutritional value. In fact, artificial flavors common in processed foods and derived from petrochemical byproducts have been implicated in allergic reactions, dermatitis, eczema, hyperactivity, and asthma!

Most of us are looking to eat healthier, but we don’t want to skimp on flavor. How many reading this can relate to that?

Herbs and spices in our kitchen cabinet can add a lot of flavor and health-promoting properties to foods, but they can lose potency relatively quickly.  I can think of several spices in my cupboard right now that I’ve had for more than 3 years. 

Did you know that you can enhance the flavors of your food in a fun and healthy way using all natural products that are delicious, long-lasting and health-promoting?

Of course, I am talking about essential oils, more specifically Young Living’s Vitality Line.

What is so great about Young Living? 

Young Living is a 21-year-old plus, billion-dollar company that was founded on the principle that nature has powerful, natural substances from PLANTS to meet the needs of the 21st Century family! Young Living owns and runs hundreds of acres of sustainable, organic farmland and essential oil distilleries in Utah, Idaho, Canada, France, Ecuador, Peru, and Oman!

Young Living is currently doing business in almost every nation around the globe, and is among the fastest growing direct sales companies in the U.S. with almost 100,000 joining each month in the U.S. alone! Our company was founded by Gary Young, who, together with his wife Mary, is continually blazing new and exciting trails all over the world to promote the ongoing success and development of Young Living. 

What are essential oils?

The products I am focusing on are pure, therapeutic-grade essential oils. For those who aren’t quite
sure, essential oils are the lifeblood of aromatic plants. Have you ever broken open the leaf or stem of a plant and seen a fluid come out? Well, when you take the precious fluid from aromatic plants containing the plant’s therapeutic properties and you super-concentrate it, what you end up with is an essential oil!

Young Living is the largest worldwide distributor of therapeutic-grade essential oils, and has a reputation of providing some of the most pure and powerful essential oils available! 

Young Living’s Vitality Line

Essential oils are famous for their aroma, but in this post I’m going to focus on the delicious flavors of essential oils in Young Living’s Vitality essential oil line! These essential oils can add a pop of flavor and therapeutic value to beverages including smoothies and teas, soups, salad dressings, marinades, desserts, sauces, and more. 

Before we start cooking though, I want to talk a little more about some basics with using Young Living’s Vitality essential oils in the kitchen!

The History of Plants in Cooking

Herbs and spices have been used in cooking probably for as long as man has been on the earth. It is believed that hunter/gatherers would wrap their meat in leaves and plants, and then they discovered that some of these plants would impart a good flavor into their meats. Early man even discovered that some of these plants could be used as natural preservatives.

Herbs and spices became used as early medicines as people began to notice their therapeutic effect. And of course, they were used to purposely flavor foods. Local cuisines became known for distinctive flavors from the herbs and spices found in their region.

Today, most American kitchens are stocked with herbs and spices from around the world allowing us to prepare foods with a wide variety of flavors. And anyone who has ever eaten foods flavored with herbs and spices has already ingested essential oils. This is because it is actually the natural essential oils in herbs and spices that give them any aroma and flavor at all!

The essential oils in herbs and spices are also responsible for any therapeutic effect on the body.

The main difference between essential oils and herbs and spices you buy at a grocery store are potency and shelf life. Through time, the essential oils in herbs and spices evaporate away, rendering the herb or spice bland and impotent.

 Locally grown herbs and spices that are either fresh or freshly dried are great to use in cooking. But herbs and spices from across the world that have been sitting on a shelf for a few years before they even get to your kitchen are not going to be as potent.

Young Living’s Vitality essential oils are perfect to use in place of herbs and spices in the kitchen when a pop of flavor and therapeutic value is desired, and especially when that herb or spice is difficult to source in your local area or is out of season. 

How about you?   Let me know in the comments if you have tried cooking with essential oils or share your favorite recipe using essential oils!  Be sure to check back for Cooking with Essential Oils Part 2.