Essences and flavourings in cooking

Essences and flavourings are generally produced from a solution of essential oils and industrial alcohol. They are made to imitate different flavours, such as that of fruit, chocolate, savoury foods and so on. They are a key element of the Army chefs larder, and they are taught o use them effectively to enhance a whole variety of dishes.

There are three sources that essences and flavourings are taken from, these are:

Natural

Taken from things such as fruit juices, citrus fruit peel, spices, beans, herbs, roots and nuts.

Artificial

Man made favours produced from a mixture of chemicals. They often create a flavour that is tastier or stronger than the real thing. Common examples are flavours made to imitate chocolate, rum, vanilla and smoked bacon.

Compounds

These are a mixture of the two groups mentioned above and can also include colourings. Most compound essences and flavourings come in paste form.

Did you know that both natural and synthetic colourings are widely available as a liquid, paste and powder.