One day, while attempting to make a tasty salad dressing, I decided to add in a drop of lemon oil instead of the lemon juice concentrate we had in the fridge {we don’t often have fresh lemons in the house}. The result was wonderful! And since then, I’ve been playing with adding lemon oil, here and there, to some of our simple dishes. Read on, if you’re curious about how we’ve been using this essential oil in our cooking.
There are plenty of health benefits to lemon oil, but honestly, my desire to use it in cooking came from the flavour it added. I prefer to use the Young Living Essential Oils {the lemon oil is straight up oils from lemon rinds}. In other words, pure lemon taste & smell without the sour juice or seeds. It makes adding it to dishes in the kitchen super easy, which is a big plus if you’re a busy mama!
Lemon oil is wonderful added to oil & balsamic salad dressings! Here’s our basic recipe:
– 2-3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
– splash of balsamic vinegar
– dash of salt & pepper
– teaspoon of dried sage leaves
– drop {or two} of lemon oil
– optional: chopped fresh chives
We typically pickle a lot of carrots from our garden every year. So during the winter and spring, one of the dishes we enjoy is Pickled Carrot & Beet Salad. It’s just chopped pickled carrots & beets with our basic balsamic dressing, but my goodness, does it taste amazing now that I add the lemon oil!! We used to eat the salad more out of necessity of using up the pickled carrots, but now I look forward to it! And if the chives are up, fresh chopped chives added in, are great.
We also eat a lot of egg salads. Sam’s version is just boiled eggs, mashed up with mayo {he’s the picky eater}, while I usually add chives or dill to the salad for the rest of us. I serve it on a bed of cabbage {our winter salad green} or mixed greens from the garden or on bread for sandwiches or just on it’s own. Again, I was amazed at how much more tasty our basic egg salad was when I started adding in a couple drops of lemon oil! I feel like this is a super accessible way to introduce the taste of lemon oil. Sam loves it with the lemon oil and he’s pretty darn picky!
A basic creamy dressing for coleslaws can include mayo, with a dash of vinegar & sugar & two drops of lemon oil. While a creamy dressing for salad greens {including kale} can include sour cream, a dash of milk, garlic, chopped chives, salt & pepper, and lemon oil. Starting to get the idea?
Another simple way to use lemon oil in food, is just by adding it into veggie dips. We make veggie dips using sour cream as the base, then add in dill & garlic & lemon oil. I recently picked up a few prepared seasoning mixes from Epicure, and discovered that their Lemon Dilly mix added to sour cream with a two drops of lemon oil and a sprinkle of chives, is PERFECT for dipping fresh veggies! Just sayin’!
With fresh salad greens just starting to come out of the garden, I’m super excited to keep tinkering with various homemade dressings and the flavour combos! Maybe even experiment with some other oils…
*Oil safety* – Oil ingestion & direct use is a bit of hot topic. Do your own research, decide for yourself. I am NOT a health care practitioner or specialist in essential oils or a nutritionist. Nor is this post sponsored in any part by Young Living. I’m simply sharing what we do at home, as part of our weekly routine, as a mama & curious essential oil user.