So you’ve been made aware of the Essential Oil craze through your friends, Facebook, and even advertisements at your local grocery store. But when you look at options like lemon, grapefruit, and lime essential oils for $10.00- $20.00 a pop, you are confused what the difference between pricey essential oils are, compared to the traditional fruit juices you’ve been using to cook with for years. Lucky for you, there are distinct differences between your fruit juices and their respective essential oils!
Lemons of example:
Lemon juice is made when squeezing lemons. It’s tart, acidic, tasty and a good source of vitamin C… A squeeze of fresh lemon juice added to many recipes can help brighten the flavor or be used to fix a dish to which too much salt has been added. (Tell me something you don’t know, right?)
Just wait…
Whereas, lemon essential oil is distilled from lemon peels to extract the volatile oils. Emphasis on the peels. Essential oil of lemons is rich in D-limonene, a monoterpene with research suggesting its benefits in cholesterol reduction, indigestion, and as an anti-cancer agent. It’s D-limonene that gives lemons and other citrus fruits their distinctive scent.
I won’t bore you with the nutrition facts and differences between every fruit’s juices and their Essential oil. In short, Essential oils of fruits are extracted from the peel of fruit, thus providing very different, volatile nutrients than that of a fruit juice.
Below is a delicious Waldorf Salad recipe that calls for doTERRA lemon essential oil. Personally, this salad is our go-to recipe for a snack that takes less than 15 minutes to make. Enjoy!