[chefedb]

Truffle Oil???  Has anyone ever tried to squeeze oil out of a truffle?? There is no such thing. Is made by man with the help of a laboratory and some truffle peelings, usually white cause they are stronger flavored 

 

[missyjean]

Nope, not pressed, destilled. Many of the other oils are destilled too, like peppermint, bitter almond, rose, etc.. Lemon oil tastes like, well, lemon oil, your mind thinks furniture polish, not lemon curd. A good destilled oil is not cheap, just paid CDN$60 for a half-liter bottle of pure peppermint oil; by simply unscrewing the cap, I can blow the top of my head off.....

Many of the "aroma therapy" oils are derived from natural sources, but are "not intended for consumption" Translation: Lousy destilling processes. Do not consume .

Cheaper edible variatities are "cut" with neutral oils, many are "tinted" with colouring. Caveat emporium and all that.

Like I said, "perfect purees" (google them, US based) puts out 1 qt tubs of frozen lemon zest and orange zest, think I paid somewhere around CDN$18 for a tub---mind you about half is sugar, but an excellent product.

That sounds like a reasonable cost to me. Today I zested 6 lemons for my cake, for a total of $3 and this was for a one-time use

 

[gypsy2727]

Zest is the Best! /img/vbsmilies/smilies/thumb.gif

 

[eater181]

A couple of years ago I was looking for a shortcut way to make Lemoncello without having to wash the wax and chemicals off lemons and then have them soak in spirit alcohol for 4 weeks. I was aware that pure citrus oils could be purchased and that this could be the key to my answer.

At Adelaide Central Markets (South Australia) I saw three tiny bottles of citrus oils (orange, lemon and lime) for $AUD30.00. Each bottle was probably only 20ml. Ouch! After some web research I found a company Boyajian Fine Oils in USA which produces a great range of culinary oils (website: www.boyajianinc.com). Fantastic. I then found a company (website: www.famousfoods.com) that distributes their oils . A 5oz bottle of Pure Lemon Oil costs $USD16.75 or a mini 3 pack 1oz each (lemon, lime & orange) costs $USD9.99.

I contacted Boyajian, their guide for using the oil was that 1 teaspoon of oil was equivalent to the zest of 10 lemons.

The Lemoncello I made was better than the comercial product. The flavour was like natural lemon. The winner though was the Limecello, I found the Orangecello lacked flavour so next time I will add extra oil.

OK, from making Lemoncello I began using the lemon, lime and orange oils in my baking; again with great results in regards to flavour. I followed the recipes on the bottles to make shortbread cookies in each flavour. I used the oil as directed in the recipe in regards to quantity where I am sure you would not use the rind of 10 lemons. I also made a Polish Cheesecake and added the oil to the quark. Yummo!

So, in conclusion I know from experience that lemon and other citrus oils can be used very successfully to replace zest. It does come down to experimentation with quantities which can be tweeked to your individual tastes.