Thank you so much for documenting and celebrating your "fails". I have to remind myself what great learning opportunities they are. I am keen to make my own flavour oils for lip balms as essential oils cannot always be safely ingested. I was thinking that freeze dried fruits would be the perfect solution but you mention that no colour, scent or flavour was transferred to the oil. Was that just with strawberries or have you found that with other ingredients too? I have successfully made vanilla infused oil and am keen to branch out.
HI Luella - Thanks for your comment and question. Look for ingredients where the flavour constituents are oil soluble. Things like vanilla, tonka beans, and coffee beans are useful. Fruits are a bit trickier, but not impossible. I'd use dehydrated fruits that have some fatty content (bananas for example) - be sure there are no additives (no preservative, color, sugar etc). :)
Today I tried infusing oils for the first time. I used organic Helichrysum flowers and I used the heat method (double boiler over stove). I am afraid I may have let it get too much heat. After almost 2 hours over a gently simmering pot, it started to give off a very strong odor and the strained oil is very dark. I'm new to this. If it got too hot do I need to throw it out? Thanks so much for your help! Kelly
Hi Kelly - Thanks for your comment. From your description, it does sound like there was too much heat. I wonder if you had a thermometer to check the temperature of the oil? I often leave a candy thermometer in the mixture during infusion so I can check the temperature regularly. The heat infusion method does require babysitting if you don't have a temperature regulated set-up (such as a sous vide, yoghurt maker, etc). The fact that the door became very string and the oil very dark sounds concerning. If you have enough to do a second batch, I'd try making it again (being very mindful of temperature) and see if the result is better. Don't toss the first batch until you have done the second one and can compare. Best of luck with it!
Comments
Thank you so much for documenting and celebrating your "fails". I have to remind myself what great learning opportunities they are. I am keen to make my own flavour oils for lip balms as essential oils cannot always be safely ingested. I was thinking that freeze dried fruits would be the perfect solution but you mention that no colour, scent or flavour was transferred to the oil. Was that just with strawberries or have you found that with other ingredients too? I have successfully made vanilla infused oil and am keen to branch out.
Thanks,
Luella.
Kelly