is food one of your love languages? Don’t you just love that feeling of blessing others with delicious food that’s prepared with love? It’s even better that we get to eat it too!!!

I’ve always thought of myself as the 10-minute chef. If it takes longer than 10 minutes to prepare, then it’s not for me. That’s why my recipes are easy to make, and vibrant on the palate.

You can imagine my delight when I discovered that essential oils can be added into food as flavouring agents!

Being the experimental chef that I am, I destroyed many a dish by adding too many drops of essential oil into the mix. 

The turning point for me was about 20 years ago. It was the day after Australian Convention, and Gary and Mary and their executive team came to my home for lunch. I also had a group of fellow Young Living oilers join us. Because I was so new to using essential oils in food, I engaged a professional chef for the day. He taught me one incredibly lesson – less is more! He used the essential oils so subtly in the food, it was like heaven to my taste buds.

I could taste the flavours, but it wasn’t like an atomic bomb (which is the best way to describe my previous experiments with oils in food). 

It was a turning point for me in understanding how to use essential oils as flavouring agents….and that lunch (and the opportunity to spend such quality time with Gary and Mary) goes down as one of my happiest Young Living memories. Mary Young still reminds me of that lunch, even to this day.

Today, I want to introduce you to a delicious vegetarian recipe I’ve created for one of my classes. It’s so easy to make, and I’ve given you a vegan option as well. But first, let’s explore the benefits of using essential oils in your food and beverages. Enjoy!

Why use essential oils in your food?

This is the million-dollar question. When we have access to beautiful organic fresh produce, why on earth would we use essential oils to flavour our dishes instead of this natural produce?

It comes down to a few simple reasons:

1. Essential oils have a higher frequency than fresh produce

That’s because essential oils are highly concentrated. In fact, one drop of Peppermint oil is equivalent to 28 cups of peppermint tea. So that’s a whole lot of natural punch in that one drop.

This is the reason why essential oils (when used topically) will generally work much

faster and have more impact on our body than a herbal tincture.

When they are added into food, that frequency lifts us up. It makes us feel good. So think of it like eating organic food on steroids.

2. Every bite and sip uplifts us emotionally and spiritually

This is a wonderful concept. The aroma of the essential oil directly stimulates the limbic region of our brain, which is where our memories and emotions are stored. So citrus oils (for example) are wonderful mood-uplifters, whereas an oil like nutmeg is emotionally soothing (like a warm and gentle hug).

What a wonderful world we live in, where we can add essential oils into our food and beverages, knowing that with every mouthful we are carried into ecstatic and happier states of consciousness. Again, this is far more amplified than what we achieve with our normal produce.

3. A bottle will last you 5,000 years

OK, I certainly hope you will love your oils enough that you will use that bottle up well before the end of your lifetime. However, it’s great to know that all of Young Living’s single oils (and those blends suitable for food and beverage flavouring) have no carrier oil in them. It’s the carrier oil that can go rancid over many years or decades…but the single oils don’t. Yes, they can evaporate through the glass of the bottle and the plastic lid,

so over time they will become more concentrated. However, essential oils were found in pristine state in alabaster jars inside of the tombs of various Egyptian Pharaohs, after being there for many thousands of years.

Compare this to fresh produce which often goes off within a week or so, and you can see that one bottle will last you for many, many dishes.

4. It saves you many trips to the supermarket, and it’s beyond organic

Once you have gathered a collection of culinary essential oils, if you run out of the fresh produce, you don’t have to go to the shops to buy more. You just reach into your treasure chest of essential oils and find the one that you are after. It’s so simple!

And because Young Living’s oils are produced to beyond organic standards, you know that you are putting the very best into your food.

I’d never prepare food with any other brand of essential oils. This is because I trust Young Living’s purity, and I’ve learned how easy it is to adulterate essential oils (in a way that’s not easily detectable). Young Living goes to extraordinary lengths in their testing process to ensure our oils are free of any possible contamination or adulteration. They have million dollar pieces of equipment for testing. Most other companies simply don’t have the budget or capacity to test at the level that Young Living tests.

5. They are so cost effective

A 5ml bottle will generally hold 100 to 150 drops, with a 15ml bottle holding three times that amount.

For most essential oils that means they work out at less than a dollar to flavour a

whole dish. This makes them so much more cost effective than store-bought herbs, where you are often having to throw some out if it’s spoiled before you’ve used it.

Young Living’s Culinary Range of oils

Young Living has an extensive range of single oils and blends, however not every essential oil is suitable for use as a flavouring agent.

The best guide is to use essential oils that come from common food plants like basil, rosemary, peppermint, lemon, grapefruit, black pepper, nutmeg, ginger, rose, etc. These are the perfect essential oils to use instead of the herb. 

In AU/NZ, Young Living has 39 different essential oils which are compliant with Food Standards Australia & New Zealand as being suitable for use in food and beverage flavouring.

Each country has its own regulations around the use of essential oils in food. If you live in the UK/EU, you have the Young Living Plus range of oils, and if you live in the US you have your Vitality range of oils. 

The essential oil in the bottle is always the same beautiful therapeutic-grade oil, regardless of what country you are in, produced to “beyond organic” standards using Young Living’s proprietary Seed to Seal process. So Peppermint oil and Peppermint Plus oil and Peppermint Vitality oil are identical. It’s simply the label that changes, to comply with the local regulations.

The golden rule of thumb when using essential oils in food and beverages is that “less is best”. Sometimes, even one drop is too much. If that’s the case, dip a toothpick into your essential oil and swirl it around.

Today, I want to introduce you to a simple yet delicious recipe, which is Devilled Eggs. If you are vegan, I’ve also put a Devilled Avocado version here for you to enjoy!

Devilled Eggs

The following quantities will be enough for 4 people (two egg halves each).

Ingredients:

•  4 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and cut in half (do a few spare eggs in case of damage)
•  1½ cubes of Meredith Valley Marinated Goat’s Cheese (or any other feta cheese of your choice)
• 1½ tbsp of Vegan Aioli (or any other aioli of your choice)
• 1 drop Dill oil
• 2 drops Black Pepper oil
• Pinch of salt (Celtic or Himalayan is best)
• Optional: A sprig of fresh dill to garnish

Method:

Scoop out the egg yolks. Mix the yolks with the other ingredients and blend until smooth. Take a rounded teaspoon of this mix and put into the egg white. Serve with some fresh dill as garnish.

Devilled Avocado

The following quantities will be enough for 4 people (one avocado half each).

Ingredients:

• 2 ripe avocados, cut in half
• 1½ cubes of soft vegan nut cheese
• 1½ tbsp of Vegan Aioli
• 1 drop Dill oil
• 1 drop Jade Lemon oil
• 1 drop Black Pepper oil
• Pinch of salt (Celtic or Himalayan is best)
• Optional: A sprig of fresh dill to garnish

Method:

Set the avocados aside. Blend the remaining ingredients until smooth. Take a rounded teaspoon of this mix and put into the avocado where the seed has been removed. Serve with some fresh dill as garnish.

Alternatively, you can scoop the flesh out of the avocado and chop it into small squares. Blend the rest of the ingredients, add the squares of avocado, gently mix, and serve in individual cocktail dishes, with a sprig of dill on top to garnish.

Here’s how to order…

If you already have your own wholesale account with Young Living, you can order through the shopping cart on your virtual office, or via phone or live chat with your local Young Living office.

If it’s been more than 12 months since you’ve ordered, or if you’ve never set up an account, please reach out to the person who introduced you to Young Living.

You will need their member number when you place your first order.

If you have lost touch with them, or need any other assistance, we are here to help. Simply click on the button below, and we’ll be in touch to assist you and help answer your questions.