Aroma Kitchen: Cooking with Essential Oils

TITLE: Very nice recipes for oils, vinegars, sugars, salts, syrups and more

*This cookbook was originally written in German and published in 2012.

I am interested in essential oils. Years ago, I became interested via aromatherapy. So, yes, I know there are “rules” for combining oils to create a successful fragrance. But how does one use essential oils for cooking? I needed more than rules; I needed recipes. And that is what I hoped this book would provide: Recipes to read and work through, test and taste, and make my own. I needed examples for using essential oils in cooking.

You will need to buy a bottle of each of these oils to make full use of this cookbook: Marjoram, sage, lavender, thyme, rosemary, winter savory, oregano, orange, garlic, tangerine, basil, grapefruit, lemon, rose, cilantroseed, cardamom, cinnamon, lemongrass, blood orange, ginger, black pepper, vanilla, pepper, bay, bergamot, fruit peel. Then you need vegetable and nut oils: Olive, sesame, peanut, grapeseed, thistle, hemp, hazelnut, pumpkin, linseed, macadamia, almond, poppyseed, canola, sunflower, and walnut. Then you will be ready to approach the recipes in this book.

On the other hand, you can forgo buying all these essential oils and go on using the fresh versions….After all, we are in the US where almost all the basics are available year round.

You might find this cookbook handy simply to help you decide what products might be hard to find at a certain time of the year, then buy the essential oil to augment. For instance, I did not know there was such a thing as “cilantroseed oil” and I am off to find a source for it online, as it does not always grow in my garden, and it does not last long in the frig, and I think having a backup of the essential oil an excellent idea.

In this cookbook you will find basic recipes for vinegars, oils, butters, sugars, salts, syrups, and honey. There are tips for using these oils, vinegars and flavorings to enhance your dishes.

After all the prep work and buying up oils, I was more than a bit disappointed to see the first recipe: An avocado, bell pepper, olive and shrimp combination with a marinade of balsamic vinegar, S&P, olive oil and lime oil…..which I could have accomplished with lime zest, right? And a couscous salad uses peppermint oil instead of chopped mint. And a tomato and avocado carpaccio uses lemon salt and lemon oil rather than lemon zest and juice. And a leaf salad uses orange oil, and not orange juice and zest. And so it goes.

So, essentially, one uses essential oils to sub for fresh herb, spices and citrus.

In a way, it was a letdown, but I can still appreciate the basic recipes.

I’m not sure what I expected…..

*I received a temporary download of this cookbook from the publisher.

I am new in the last year to using essential oils so this cook book comes at a perfect time! It it a beautiful book in all aspects. It's design, colors, photos, choice of recipes, artful use of flavorful oils to highlight the flavors of the food in each dish presented. I love the choices of foods... So simple yet so elegant! A keeper for sure! A family recipe book, yet a book for couples too!

I'm not sure what to do with this book. It wouldn't really work with my kids, since there's so much information and really not enough pictures. On the other hand, I can see some of my more adventurous parents really getting into this. The information in the beginning makes you want to try a few experiments. The recipes seem sort of exotic and yet most of the ingredients won't be too hard to get. I think I'll put it on my to-buy list, but way down at the bottom and hope that I get enough money to get that far on the list.