Flavors are available in a wide variety of formats and two of the most common types for baking are “the extract” and “the emulsion”. Both deliver on flavor, but let’s explore the differences in more detail. At a rudimentary level extracts and emulsions have one thing in common: aroma and flavor. The concentrated flavor essences and aromatics may be of natural or artificial origin, but the primary difference is the type of base the flavor is diluted in and how the flavor is kept in solution.
Extracts
Extracts are the most common type – found in grocery stores everywhere. Some flavors, like vanilla, are made by percolating chopped vanilla beans with an alcohol solvent. Alcohol is a common base for blending essences as most flavors are easily soluble in alcohol. The alcohol used is generally tasteless, but it can have a distinct alcoholic smell. When shipping extracts, caution is required as most are considered hazardous due to their lower flash points and flammability. One benefit of extracts is that they generally contain enough alcohol to prevent spoilage from microorganisms or bacterial growth.
Vanilla extract is the only flavor of extract that is regulated in the United States by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). According to the FDA, any product labeled as “pure” vanilla extract and sold in the U.S. must contain at least 13.35 ounces of vanilla beans per gallon during extraction and be in a solution of at least 35% alcohol. Other extract flavors such as almond, lemon, orange, etc. are typically in a base of mostly alcohol and water, but the specific contents and ratios are not standardized and can vary widely by manufacturer.
Emulsions
An emulsion avoids the use of solvents, such as alcohol, to blend the flavors into a liquid solution. Instead, a flavor emulsion is a microscopic dispersion of tiny flavor droplets in an aqueous medium, usually water. This is made possible by the use of an emulsifying agent, commonly a natural vegetable gum such as Xanthan or Acacia. Emulsions are made through a high-shearing process where drops of flavor are mixed with an emulsifier; shearing is the process of making tiny droplets. The flavor droplets become encapsulated by the gum. These natural gums also help protect the flavor from thermal abuse during the heating or baking of a product.
Emulsions tend to be thicker than extracts and are often cloudy or opaque. For this reason, extracts are generally preferred in clear beverages. Other advantages of emulsions include lower cost and more natural aroma. Most importantly, emulsions tend to be more resistant to heat resulting in less volatility of the flavor; in other words, the flavor won’t “bake-out”.
When using LorAnn Bakery Emulsions as a substitute for extracts, the ratio is 1 to 1 for most recipes. 1 teaspoon bakery emulsion = 1 teaspoon extract.
Check out our recipes online to get ideas of how to use an emulsion. This recipe for
Almond Bars is one of our favorites.
Nice explanation of emulsions vs extracts.
Thanks Kathy. Have you used emulsions in your baking?
I prefer emulsions to extracts personally. I’ll use extracts when I can’t get my hands on emulsions.
Thank you for the great and easy to understand information. I started using your bakery emulsions a couple of years ago and am very pleased.
We are happy to hear you are pleased with our Bakery Emulsions. Thank you Carol!
Do emulsions need to be cooked or baked? I was thinking about flavoring my icing for red velvet cut out cookies with your cream cheese emulsion. Is “raw” emulsion off-puttting, or bitter, at all?
Hi Michelle – Like an extract, the emulsions do not need to be used in something that is baked or heated. The cream cheese flavor will be perfect in your icing.
Thanks so much for the excellent explanation. I use extracts and oils in my icing and emulsions in my cupcakes, but wasn’t sure why. All I know is that LorAnn products give me the flavours I want every time.
Hello
Which one is better for using with melted chocolate? I know that you can’t mix water base products with chocolate
Thanks🌻
Hi Orly, I would not suggest using either type in chocolate. LorAnn has a line of essential oils that work beautifully in chocolate. Other flavors in the super-strength line are appropriate as well (the item details page will specify if the particular flavor can be used in chocolate).
https://www.lorannoils.com/food-grade-essential-oils-super-strength-flavors
Thank you. That’s a great explanation!
Do emulsions expire?
Yes. All of our Bakery Emulsions are printed with a “Best by” date on the label.
I have used your emulsions for several years. I particularly like the ones with color added. So much better than extracts.
Thank you Louisa!
I am curious as to how many carbs and calories or in the emulsions. I cannot find that information anywhere on your site or any other site. I’m on the keto diet, so I avoid carbs.
Hi Mattea – The nutritional values vary depending on the flavor. Please give us a call at 800-862-8620 or send an email to customercare@lorannoils.com and a customer service representative will be happy to provide you with the carb/calorie information for the flavors you are interested in.
how does this work in candy making? Cooked candy?
For candy making, a more concentrated type of flavoring, such as LorAnn’s Super Strength flavors will perform better. https://www.lorannoils.com/food-grade-essential-oils-super-strength-flavors
My husband is diabetic and I am trying to make keto treats for him. I want to make him some keto ice cream using my emulsifiers that I have on hand. However, I can’t find any nutritional information regarding carbs or sugar. I’m thinking it’s almost non-existent, but I want to be sure since sugar and carbs have a detrimental effect on his blood sugar numbers. Do you know where I can find out the nutritional breakdown of the emulsifiers?
Hello Tiffany, since you only likely add a small amount (1 – 2 teaspoons) of the emulsion for flavoring in a batch, the added carbs and sugar will be negligible per finished serving. We will be adding nutritional information to the item pages on our website in the next few months. If you need exact numbers, you can email us at customercare@lorannoils.com. During normal times, a customer care agent would respond quickly, however our facility will be closing tomorrow due to Michigan’s Stay Home Stay Safe initiative to combat the COVID-19 outbreak. A response to your inquiry could take a bit longer.
I stand corrected! The nutritional profiles are now available on our website. Click on a flavor and scroll to the bottom of the page: https://www.lorannoils.com/bakery-emulsions