Essential oils for ingestion; safety and emulsification

[Silas Loom]

Copied from the booze-free thread. Someone posted about mock gin - water and botanicals, for £26 a bottle. I was considering and researching cheapskate alternatives.

Anise, Star Essential Oil | Naissance £2.40 for 10ml. "Not for ingestion". Ingredients: 100% star anise oil.

Organic Star Anise Oil 5ml, Food Grade (NHR Organic Oils) £12 for 5 ml. Sold as food grade. Ingredients: 100% Organic Illicium verum Oil. Organically Grown in Europe.

It's the same for cinnamon, bergamot, all the other oils that would make a nice addition to (say) sparkling cucumber water. There's a huge premium for food grade, even though the ingredients appear to be the same.

So is there any reason to believe that the stuff which is a tenth of the price would kill me?

 

[TruXta]

Yes. Next!

 

[Orang Utan]

I've noticed that 'not for ingestion' on mustard oil, despite it being sold in the grocery section in Asian food markets. I don't know though. I've been merrily ingesting it for years.

 

[SpookyFrank]

Copied from the booze-free thread. Someone posted about mock gin - water and botanicals, for £26 a bottle. I was considering and researching cheapskate alternatives.

Anise, Star Essential Oil | Naissance £2.40 for 10ml. "Not for ingestion". Ingredients: 100% star anise oil.

Organic Star Anise Oil 5ml, Food Grade (NHR Organic Oils) £12 for 5 ml. Sold as food grade. Ingredients: 100% Organic Illicium verum Oil. Organically Grown in Europe.

It's the same for cinnamon, bergamot, all the other oils that would make a nice addition to (say) sparkling cucumber water. There's a huge premium for food grade, even though the ingredients appear to be the same.

So is there any reason to believe that the stuff which is a tenth of the price would kill me?

Buy gin, for less than 26 quid. Leave the gin outside on a very cold night. Once the contents has frozen, pour off any remaining liquid. Thaw out what's left in the bottle, hey presto it's gin-flavoured water.

 

[heinous seamus]

I have a similar question about 'organic cacao' and plain old cocoa powder.

 

[SpookyFrank]

I have a similar question about 'organic cacao' and plain old cocoa powder.

'Cacao' is just gentrifying motherfucker speak for 'cocoa'.

 

[belboid]

I have a similar question about 'organic cacao' and plain old cocoa powder.

It is a slightly higher quality part of the bean (supposedly) that has been processed at lower temperatures. It is slightly more bitter and more chocolately. But only a little bit.

 

[moose]

I'm fairly certain some varieties of star anise are poisonous, and can only be used for perfumery purposes, and not consumed.

 

[Silas Loom]

I'm fairly certain some varieties of star anise are poisonous, and can only be used for perfumery purposes, and not consumed.

Yep, you're right. Japanese star anise - illicium anisatum - is poisonous. Chinese star anise - illicium verum - isn't, though, and that's the supposedly inedible oil I've bought now, along with a few others.

 

[Silas Loom]

It's occurred to me - after placing the order - that while it should be fine to consume diluted essential oils, they won't dilute in water on their own. I need an emulsifier. Alcohol is obviously out. Glycerin or honey would be out for sugar-avoiding reasons. So what cheap, edible, low-carb, taste-neutral emulsifiers are available out there?

 

[SpookyFrank]

It's occurred to me - after placing the order - that while it should be fine to consume diluted essential oils, they won't dilute in water on their own. I need an emulsifier. Alcohol is obviously out. Glycerin or honey would be out for sugar-avoiding reasons. So what cheap, edible, low-carb, taste-neutral emulsifiers are available out there?

Citric acid?

 

[Silas Loom]

Citric acid?

Looks worth investigating.

 

[moon]

You could have just bought some grapefruits and made a grapefruit juice drink.. It tastes almost exactly the same as some cheap wines and is much better for you, safer too.
Grapefruit is a bit of a wonder food if you eat it fresh, don't bother with any of those rubbish grapefruit extracts or oil or whatever, what you want is the real fresh thing.

 

[Silas Loom]

You could have just bought some grapefruits and made a grapefruit juice drink.. It tastes almost exactly the same as some cheap wines and is much better for you, safer too.
Grapefruit is a bit of a wonder food if you eat it fresh, don't bother with any of those rubbish grapefruit extracts or oil or whatever, what you want is the real fresh thing.

Fruit is fine. Fruit juice is ruled out on sugar grounds. So flavoured water really is the way forward.

 

[moon]

i don't think freshly squeezed (non concentrate) grapefruit juice has that much sugar (fructose) in it.. but its worth checking..

It seems the similar to orange juice as per this webpage, so maybe yeah the sugar levels may be too high for you..
Nutritional Comparison: Orange juice, raw vs Grapefruit juice, white, raw

 

[Silas Loom]

I'm thinking that soy lecithin might be the flavourless, neutral answer. Would also mean that the mock gin would foam like a pisco sour when agitated in a cocktail shaker.

 

[bubblesmcgrath]

Be careful with grapefruit..
I learned to my cost that it interferes with the way certain medications metabolise.
It's a definite no if you're taking certain statins or warfarin.
In my case my immunosuppressants didnt agree with the grapefruit interference and I ended up having a full blown allergic response.

My response to grapefruit then became extreme....so bad that I couldnt even use a lovely natural soap and shower gel that had grapefruit extract in it.

 

[bubblesmcgrath]

On the subject of essential oils.....
When they say one drop they really mean it.
I'll never forget using clove drops in a carrier oil for a skin issue. The recommended amount was 5 drops of clove oil added to my carrier oil.....
I wanted to cover the entire body...so....
I stupidly decided to use 10 drops of clove oil in my carrier oil....
Within 3 minutes of applying the mix, I was on the floor with horrendous nausea, cramping, dizziness and then I became violently ill...vomiting and awful diarhea. I'll never forget the weird feeling of blood draining from my face / head and the subsequent partial faint....

Lesson learned.....the hard way.

Careful when using essential oils. They are very potent....

 

[Silas Loom]

Oh. Is this a bit of a Stanley thread then? I don't want to be Stanley.

 

[bubblesmcgrath]

Oh. Is this a bit of a Stanley thread then? I don't want to be Stanley.

Eh?

 

[Silas Loom]

Eh?

He's the chap who posts threads like "I'm going to cut my legs off as I'm an artist. Can anyone recommend a hacksaw shop in Lisbon?" because it gets attention and means that people express concern about his welfare. I'm worried that my plan is silly enough to be on the same level.

 

[kabbes]

I don't understand this thread. What has star anise got to do with gin flavoured water?

 

[bubblesmcgrath]

He's the chap who posts threads like "I'm going to cut my legs off as I'm an artist. Can anyone recommend a hacksaw shop in Lisbon?" because it gets attention and means that people express concern about his welfare. I'm worried that my plan is silly enough to be on the same level.

I know who he is....I just dont see even the remotest resemblance to one of his threads....

 

[Silas Loom]

I don't understand this thread. What has star anise got to do with gin flavoured water?

Gin is alcohol (an emulsifier, as well as a depressant) mixed with botanicals and water. Juniper, obviously. But many other organic flavourings are used.

Alcohol-free gin, I posit, would be water flavoured with botanicals, using a different emulsifier. I have bought an assortment of botanicals. Now to choose an emulsifier and get to work.

The only worry, to bubblesmcgrath 's point and her later question, is that messing with essential oils for consumption approaches Edwards levels of personal risk, and should be left to qualified professionals. Also, that if all I want to do is flavour water, I might as well just use herbs and fruit rinds. But I've bought the oils now.

 

[kabbes]

Gin is alcohol (an emulsifier, as well as a depressant) mixed with botanicals and water. Juniper, obviously. But many other organic flavourings are used.

Alcohol-free gin, I posit, would be water flavoured with botanicals, using a different emulsifier. I have bought an assortment of botanicals. Now to choose an emulsifier and get to work.

The only worry, to bubblesmcgrath 's point and her later question, is that messing with essential oils for consumption approaches Edwards levels of personal risk, and should be left to qualified professionals.

I see. Calling it "gin" is something of an affectation, right? But the idea of flavoured water is something I can understand.

I have a pet hate of using the word "botanical" as a noun, but that's just me.

What specific flavourings do they use to actually make gin, then? Can you just use those? Failing that, is it possible to start off with an incredibly dilute quantity and see if you die?

 

[killer b]

I believe they use something called gum arabic as an emulsifier with Coke (which is also made from a mixture of essential oils in suspension) - but it seems to require an industrial process to actually combine everything.

You could use a small amount of ethanol instead - appreciate that may be a line you don't want to cross, but the ABV of the resulting drink would be negligible.

 

[Silas Loom]

I see. Calling it "gin" is something of an affectation, right? But the idea of flavoured water is something I can understand.

I have a pet hate of using the word "botanical" as a noun, but that's just me.

What specific flavourings do they use to actually make gin, then? Can you just use those? Failing that, is it possible to start off with an incredibly dilute quantity and see if you die?

I am a traditionalist and a prescriptivist on almost all grammatical issues, but I always rather like nouned adjectives and verbed nouns. I think it's because they allow for interesting novel inflections, and one needs to know the rules to generate them properly.

I'm not trying to recreate gin as much as to invent new beverages that make life more interesting when the majority of commercial drinks are outlawed.

Small quantities as a tester sound sensible. As does testing on someone other than me. The children, perhaps.

 

[Silas Loom]

You could use a small amount of ethanol instead - appreciate that may be a line you don't want to cross, but the ABV of the resulting drink would be negligible.

It's a line which I absolutely will not cross, ever. That's worked like a charm for nearly a decade now; I'm trying to approach sugars and sweeteners in the same way but there's more scope for messy compromise.