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Enhancing Culinary Creations with Essential Oils

Cooking preparations are not just about nourishing our bodies; it’s also an art form that allows us to explore flavors, experiment with ingredients, and create delightful experiences. While we often rely on traditional herbs and spices to add depth to our dishes, there’s another secret ingredient that can take your cooking to the next level: pure essential oils. In this blog, we will dive into the world of cooking with essential oils and discover how they can elevate and enhance our culinary creations.

Pure essential oils are highly concentrated extracts derived from various plants, capturing their aromatic, health, and flavor compounds. A plant’s essential oil is known as its “soul” or “essence”.

Benefits of Cooking with Essential Oils:

  • Intense Flavor: Essential oils offer a potent burst of flavor, often more concentrated than dry or fresh plant matter. A single drop can infuse your dish with aromatic essence, enhancing the overall taste.
  • Hard-To-Find Ingredient Substitute: For example, fresh lavender flowers cannot be found easily and at certain times of the year, impossible to get.
  • Versatility: Essential oils can be used in a wide range of dishes, from savory to sweet. Whether you’re preparing a salad dressing, marinade, soup, or dessert, there’s an essential oil that can complement and elevate the flavors.
  • Health Benefits: Their therapeutic properties can support overall well-being. For example, peppermint oil may aid digestion, while lemon oil can provide antioxidants and astringent constituents.
  • Learn How to Support Your Health: By experimenting with different essential oils, researching and getting to know the specific oils you plan to use, may open your mind and help you to think outside of the box when it comes to new methods of meal preparations & health support.
  • Cost-Effective: There are approximately 600 drops of essential oil in each 1 oz. bottle. It takes around 80 lemons to make 1 oz. of essential oil!

General Guideline:

Tips for Cooking with Essential Oils:

  • A Little Goes A Long Way; It may be best to start with only 1 drop and work up dish by dish. Essential oils are highly concentrated, so a little goes a long way. I personally started with 5 drops and the taste overpowered the meal. Begin by adding a single drop to your recipe and gradually increase if desired. Remember, it’s easier to add more flavor than to dilute an overpowering taste. This also helps to disperse the flavor all throughout the dish.
  • Dilute when Necessary: Some essential oils, such as oregano or cinnamon, can be quite potent and may require dilution. To avoid overwhelming your dish, consider diluting the oil with a carrier, depending on what your ingredients are. Due to essential oils needing a lipid carrier, one may already be present in your dish.
  • Choose Flavors That Are Complimentary to Your Dish: Experiment with different essential oils to find combinations that work well together. For example, lavender oil can add a subtle floral note to desserts, while herbaceous oils like basil, rosemary, or thyme oil can enhance the flavors of Italian-inspired dishes.
  • Timing is Key: Essential oils are volatile and can lose their potency when exposed to high heat for extended periods. To preserve their flavors, it’s best to add essential oils towards the end of the cooking process or even as a finishing touch.
  • Understand Essential Oil Volatility: Some compounds and flavor components may be lost if they are heated too long or at high temperatures. Get to know your oils!

Delicious Oil Additive Ideas:

  • By adding a drop of lemon to your chicken and seafood dishes, especially when you add a dash of white wine.
  • Mints, like peppermint may be tasty as an additive to chocolate flavored desserts or in ice teas.
  • Most herbaceous oils, such as basil, thyme, rosemary, go well with tomato dishes, such as Bruschetta, pasta, and most Italian meals. . It also synergizes with other oils like garlic, to create your own taste!
  • Bay Laurel is commonly known as “Bay Leaf”, which many others steep in soups, stews, and pasta sauces.
  • Asafoetida is a popular Indian spice! It is also known as “Hing” or “ferula”. It has a garlicy aroma, and it is said to have an onion flavor, which may be why it is often paired with these same spices in food. It is said to enhance their taste and it goes well in curries and meats.
  • Carrot essential oil is actually also known as “Queen Anne’s lace”, which is often the plant used to distill “Carrot” oil! There may be different ideas to be found by looking at recipes from different cultures! Some cultures call it by one name or the other.
  • Add a punch of flavor to your bread by adding a drop or two of orange essential oil.
  • I love to add garlic essential oil to my pasta noodle water, enhancing the noodle itself with a garlicy flavor. I also love to add it to my finished macaroni and cheese dishes.
  • Add a drop of lemon essential oil, rather than fresh zest, or to invigorate your cup of tea!
  • Some essential oils known for their flavor, may not exhibit the flavors in the oils themselves. For example, vanilla essential oil probably will not give food a vanilla flavor. However, it may result in a magnificent vanilla scent.
  • Create your own healthy synergies by experimenting with different flavors. Do your own research and look up the benefits of each, individual oil, to create a menu that has the health properties, adaptogens, and the type of support that you are seeking!
  • There is always the choice to use blends of essential oils as well, which offer multidimensional flavor and benefits! This is especially the case with our Garlic Tears, a trio of garlic, asafoetida, and black pepper!

Exercising Caution When Using Essential Oils:

  • THE most important factor is to only use high-quality, food-grade essential oils, such as our own, found below. This ensures there are no harmful additives to your oils.
  • Always follow the recommended guidelines for essential oil use, including the dilution, if any, and at what time it may be best to add to your preparation.
  • Essential oils are corrosive to plastic, especially in their pure form. Only use wood or silicone utensils to stir the essential oil in. Afterward, soak the utensil in hot, soapy water and wash it well.
  • Do your research before you plan to use the oil, giving you time to plan out the appropriate steps.
  • Always start with 1 drop. It will be much easier to add more if needed, than to attempt to dilute a strong flavor.
  • Do not use essential oils in place of any medications and always consult your practitioner with any questions and your intentions when it comes to essential oil use.
  • It is very important to stay away from essential oils in high amounts during pregnancy. Essential oils are even more concentrated than many herbs/spices are in powdered form.
  • Last, but not least, you must heed caution with essential oils if you are on specific medications. Essential oils are potent and known potentiators and for lowering the effects of some medications. The actions of the plant/oil may counteract, lessen, or make your medications even stronger! Consult your physician beforehand if you are taking medication.

Cooking with pure essential oils opens up a world of possibilities, allowing you to explore new dimensions of taste and aroma in your culinary creations. In moderation, with a little experimentation, and using individual creativity, you can transform your dishes into extraordinary culinary masterpieces. So, go ahead and embark on this aromatic journey, and let the flavors of essential oils tantalize your taste buds like never before!

Click Here to view our food-grade, “Culinary Essential Oil Package”, where we have detailed information on the flavors of each oil.

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Biofilm Documentary Brings Topic to Light

biofilm documentary

A recently released biofilm documentary from the Arthroplasty Patient Foundation showcases the reality of bacterial biofilms, and the resulting damage that they cause. Why Am I Still Sick? highlights several patient cases and discusses the topic with top leading scientists and medical professionals who give their expert presentation on what they know about microbial colonization inside the body. From chronic and recurring strep throat to the day-to-day regiment of patients managing cystic fibrosis, this biofilm documentary personalizes the experience of enduring chronic bacterial infections.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjHqMZszHTA

For those wanting to take a deeper dive and learn more about the science behind bacterial biofilms, Coursera offers an online, non-accredited program you can take and really dive deep into Bacteria and Chronic Infections. Did you watch this documentary, and what did you think about it? Let us know in the comments down below, and as always – Happy Healing!

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Dr. Stephen Harrod Buhner Has Passed…

Stephen Harrod Buhner

Dr. Stephen Harrod Buhner, passed away on December 8, 2022. Yet it was not unexpected, as he predicted and wrote about the process of dying, from his own perspective. He prepared himself and his followers through his posts and blog. He will live on, through his blogs and books, which we will forever cherish.

He loved writing and he loved helping others. The world will miss him and there will He loved writing and through his works, he helped millions of people. He was an author of 24 books, 1 is just being released, and 10 of which are award-winners. He wrote articles, memoirs, short stories, and poetry on nature, herbal medicine, the environment, and indigenous culture. The world will miss him and there will never be another like him, as he was a true pioneer. To read more about him and his accomplishments, here is a link to a self-written biography: https://www.stephenharrodbuhner.com/about/

On his social media page, his loved ones posted: “There is a saying in some places on the continent of Africa that says something like: When an old man dies, a library burns. It was a favorite among many of Stephen’s. An elder has died. Stephen died yesterday morning, December 8th around 9:30 am mountain time. He was in a ceremony with friends and family. He was aware, conscious, present, open hearted and humorous. He was himself all the way through. And so very brave. Our hearts are heavy as they have ever been. We miss him terribly. He will be buried this morning in his beloved forest. Thank you all for all the kindness you showed him in these past weeks and months, it meant the very world to him. Stephen said your comments felt like a living wake.”

Stephen is an interdisciplinary, independent scholar, polymath, and author or 23 books (and working on others), numerous articles, and essays and have achieved some mastery in a variety of subjects a few being bacterial ecology, resistance dynamics; plant intelligence and ecology, human psychology and psychotherapy, biological self-organization; nonlinearity; contemplative spirituality, transcultural epistemology and more.

I feel blessed to have had a conversation with him. I am deeply saddened. When I first began my journey, I was determined to find answers. Instead, I found Dr. Buhner’s work and I felt that he had already found many of the answers. His contributions to this world are far more than I could mention, and I spent over five years advocating him, his work, and his teachings to all of my followers.

As he tells us in his book, “Healing Lyme”, that his parents were doctors. He became one himself, giving him a unique perspective, and knowledge, as an herbalist. With his background, love for nature, writing, and plants, he became a unique teacher for the world that knew little of it all. He wrote about everything from intelligent pathogens to the consciousness of plants. He taught us through his books, blogs, and posts and all the way up to the end, he posted to his fans, personally, on social media. He taught us in an easily understandable way. He taught us to get to know the pathogen itself and the plants that we use.

On December 4, 2022, he wrote: Facebook A Last Post

HI All

Regrettably, my body has taken a severe turn for the worst; it doesn’t look like it will be able to be corrected. I spend most of the day sleeping; I am having seizures and mini-strokes now. Julie brings me back from them but it is getting harder and harder for her to do so. It’s only a few more days now. Sorry for this last long journey into night. I had hoped to find a different outcome.

Pulmonary fibrosis is not a kind disease and in many ways cancer is far more benevolent oddly enough. I have spent most of my time on the couch in front of the computer or about 20 feet away lying in bed, that is about all I can do and I have to have help to make it that far. I can no longer move on my own. Your very kind donations have allowed us to clear all our credit cards and buy a few expensive care items that we had hoped to have and which have helped immensely. You have helped us so much in the end; this has made more of a difference than you know and I can’t thank you deeply enough.

I am lucky enough to be buried deep in the Gila Forest in a place few people are aware of. luckily, New Mexico is still supportive of home and green burial. So it is just me and my beloved forest, right adjacent to the Aldo Leopold wilderness area, which makes a lot of sense to me given my life’s work. The truth is that as I have grown older and more tired, I feel my connection to the land more deeply. I have been lucky enough to be buried in a handmade woolen shroud. One made with care and love, the deer buttons are quite lovely.

Julie and Trishuwa will have some posts to make in the coming weeks.

I did manage to finish my last book, BecomingV. It will be out in a number of weeks. Only 500 or so; I did not get to see it in print. I left quite a number of signed stickers to be placed in some of the books though I don’t expect them to last long. I wish you all the best, safe travel in your lives.

Green blessings,

Stephen Harrod Buhner

I wrote to him and told him that he was my inspiration, that his herbs and the information he shared were the game-changers in helping us to get well, and that I had named a product after him. I never expected a response from him, as I just wanted to put my feelings out into the universe. Surprisingly, he replied and he thanked me for thinking of him, by naming something after him. My love and respect for him only increased from there. He wrote a blog on what it is like to be in the dying stages of life. It touched me deeply, as I read it in tears. It was reading this blog that allowed me to mourn his loss, in my own personal way. Only he, and in the final stages of his life, could write such an article: https://www.stephenharrodbuhner.com/articles/on-aging/

Dr. Stephen Harrod Buhner, I have lived the past five years following, respecting, and wanting to get to know you, and your work, even more. When I was grieving the loss of my own son, I locked myself in with your books and I when I finally came out, I was a new person, inspired and determined to help others. You gave me a new life. Even if you were unaware, you have always been my guide, my light, and my teacher. I will forever keep you in my heart, as you have become a part of who I am today. You are, and always be, a part of my story…….

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Medicinal Mushrooms Game Changer – Boosting Vitamin D

brown mushroom on ground

Vitamin D is known as the “Sunshine Vitamin”. Ironically, at the same time diseases are at an epidemic high, vitamin D deficiency potentially affects 1 billion people world-wide. It is a game-changer that this issue may be resolved with a very simple process that involves exposing mushrooms to light, coaxing them to produce much more vitamin D! (1)

Plants do not contain vitamin D, as we can only obtain it from an animal source. (2) Mushrooms are in a classification of their own, although having commonalities with both plants and animals. Like animals, they require an external source of nutrition, similar to parasites, taking what they need from decomposing matter. Like animals they have no chlorophyll and have eukaryotic cells. (2) On the other hand, like plants, they convert sunlight into energy. Plants turn sunlight into chlorophyll, whereas mushrooms convert it into vitamin D. (2)

Current animal sources for vitamin D supplementation may cause many issues to arise. Livestock, dairy, eggs, and aquaculture animals may not have proper nutrition levels themselves. Many of these animals see little to no sunlight. They are fed synthetic nutrition, including hormones, and this too may affect the assimilation of vitamin D. Additionally, animal sources are not allowed for vegans and there are many that do not want to take synthetic variations of vitamin D supplementation. Lastly, even mushrooms that are farm-raised may have some of the same issues, as they are grown in the dark.

There is a magical conversion that happens when you expose mushrooms to UV light. Similar to how humans experience photochemical processes that product vitamin D. (3) 

Using UV-A and UV-C lighting to boost the vitamin D content of mushrooms, ourselves, may be the answer that most are looking for! Surprisingly, this even works on them if they are sliced, powdered, and even dried. There are factors that determine the conversion such as species, parts of the mushroom used, surface area exposed, UV intensity, wavelength, and the moisture content.

The biggest game changer of all is to use this process on a tincture, which is suspended compounds in alcohol. It may not only avoid degradation but, with then applying the UV light, research has shown that the vitamin D content may be boosted to over 4,500%! This may be a game-changer!

We are offering to bathe your mushroom, or other products in UV light for 3 hours! Simply purchase your product as normal. Then you go to the UV Light Bath page, to purchase the bath itself separately. To be redirected to the UV Light Bath™ Product Page, Click Here!

  • Purchase any fresh or dried mushrooms – the study used button, shiitake, and oyster mushrooms.
  • Purchase a UV lamp that emits UV-A, and UV-C rays. A combination of UV-A and UV-C was found to be more effective at raising Vitamin D2 than UV-B. (4)
  • Place the mushrooms on a tray and slice them.
  • For 60 minutes, expose sliced mushrooms to UV-B light.
  • Take advantage of your free vitamin D2!

Not only is this process said to work on mushrooms and vitamin D content, but also on many types of vitamins and nutrients, including chlorophyll. While the focus here is on the vitamin D content of mushrooms, you may want to do your own research on the effects of using UV lighting to sterilize, enhance, and to grow your plants. There are many studies involving manipulating the growth, photosynthesis, chlorophyll, and nutrition content of your plants! (5)

References:

  1. Blasting mushrooms with UV light boosts vitamin D by 4,600% – Big Think 
  2. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijfs.15410  
  3. Ultraviolet Irradiation Increased the Concentration of Vitamin D2 and Decreased the Concentration of Ergosterol in Shiitake Mushroom (Lentinus edodes) and Oyster Mushroom (Pleurotus ostreatus) Powder in Ethanol Suspension | ACS Omega
  4.  Do plants grow better in UV light? | Hoe and Rake
  5. Benefits of UV Application on Fresh Produce | Alpha-Purify
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Child & Animal Herbal Dosage Guide

This is a guide for “the babes”. Subsequently, mothers with little herbal experience can now worry less, having direction. Consider many factors, primarily the herb itself, its recommendations, cautions, interactions, toxicities, sensitivities, reactions, the child’s overall health, weight, and tolerance. Not all herbs are taken at the same pace or frequency. In conclusion, everyone is different.

We have worked with many breastfeeding mothers. We understand that herbs pass through the breastmilk. Some studies say that the baby may receive 1% of the compounds.

Add any remedies to a liquid, for example formula, water, or juice. Do not administer them directly into the mouth. However, many times an adult is to take an herbal remedy daily, the same applies to children, at the appropriate dose. For example, if an adult is to have 3 cups of tea daily, the child would as well.

There are many herbs that should not be given to a child. Herbs are to be respected. If your child is having trouble taking herbs, come up with creative ways to offer them. For instance, yogurt, gelatin, gummies, pudding, or oatmeal. If you still have difficulty, contact us at dis.ease.martyr@gmail.com to brainstorm.

There are other known methods to determine a child’s dose, although they may be difficult to understand. They are known as “Young’s Rule” and “Cowling’s Rule”. A quick search can be done to find them.

Use herbs wisely and with common sense. Do your research.

Herbal Tea

Herbal Tea Brewing: allow 1 tsp. of herb to sit in 6 oz. of cold water for 5 minutes, then bring it to a 15 minute boil. This will result in a condensed tea. These are general directions for leaf and roots. Normally, flowers are only steeped in hot water. Be sure to allow it to cool down properly.

The standard adult dose for herbal tea, in general, is 1 cup (8 oz.), 1-3 times a day.

Herbal Tinctures

A tincture is an alcohol-based extraction of herbal compounds. Alcohol is a potent and bioavailable base. A single dose of tincture contains the alcohol content equivalent to a ripe banana.

 The standard adult dose for herbal tinctures, in general, is 2-3 droppers (1 tsp.), 1-3 times a day.       

Herbal Glycerites

A glycerite is an extraction of vegetable glycerin. They are ideal for children, due to their sweet, sugary taste. They do not contain sugar and may be a bit less bioavailable than tincture. 

The standard adult dose for herbal glycerites, in general, is 3-5 droppers (approx. 2 tsp.), 1-3 times a day.

     Cautions: Possible reactions may be crying, tummy ache, moodiness, sweating, rashes, as well as others.  Cautions: Do not allow the child to suck on, bite, or touch the dropper. The glass may break, which may be a natural reaction. If a bottle is contaminated, mold may grow. If any type of reaction occurs, stop use. Mold may be visible floating on the liquid, inside or outside of the dropper, as well as on the lid. If this occurs, toss it in the trash.

Disclaimer: This information is not intended to diagnose, cure, nor prevent any disease. Consult a physician before use. Keep out of reach of children. Use herbs at your own risk. We are not liable for any misuse or reactions. This product has not been evaluated by the FDA. Dis~Ease Solutions® 

References Used: Children’s Dosage Guide | Herb Lore