Here at Lollipops, we have five main flavour product lines: the famous LorAnn Oils, LorAnn Bakery Emulsions, and Roberts Confectionery Essences, Roberts Confectionery Flavoured Food Colourings & Roberts Confectionery Flavoured Oils. They’re all amazing products but how do you decide which one you should use? Are any vegan, allergy friendly, or non-alcoholic?
Read on to have all your flavoursome questions answered!
Roberts flavour essences are used to flavour your bakes, cakes and sweets and can be added to icings, cake, biscuit batters, ice-cream, macarons and so much more! These incredible essences will flavour to match the aromatic scent but not colour and are usually clear/pale in appearance.
Roberts have also created a couple of Natural flavours in this range which include: Chai, Chocolate Honeycomb, Cola, Cranberry, Custard Cream, Lavender, Marshmallow, Rocky Road, Sticky Date Pudding & Watermelon. These natural essences will flavour your treats and are derived from natural sources.
How much to use:
It is suggested to use 1-2 drops with an eyedropper or between 0.05% - 0.01% and to flavour to taste/aroma.
Allergies and dietary requirements:
Roberts Confectionery Flavour Essence is gluten free, halal and vegan friendly.
Roberts flavoured food colourings are perfect for adding flavour and colour to your cakes, bakes and sweets. These incredible essences are opaque in colour appearance and will match the aromatic scent of their flavour.
Roberts have also created a couple of Natural flavoured food colourings which include: Maple & Tiramisu. These natural food colourings will flavour your treats and colour them to match and best of all are derived from natural sources.
How much to use:
It is suggested to use 1-2 drops with an eyedropper or between 0.05% - 0.01% and to flavour to taste/aroma.
Allergies and dietary requirements:
Roberts Confectionery Flavoured Food Colouring is gluten free, halal and vegan friendly.
Roberts flavoured oils are highly concentrated and oil soluble which means they are ideally used for flavouring chocolate and high temperature baking. Not only will they flavour but they will send an aromatic scent throughout your kitchen.
How much to use:
It is suggested to use 1-2 drops with an eyedropper or between 0.05% - 0.01% and to flavour to taste/aroma.
Allergies and dietary requirements:
Roberts Confectionery Flavoured Oil is gluten free and vegan friendly - some flavours are Halal or Kosher.
LorAnn Oils have been manufacturing and distributing edible essential oils for over 50 years and they are well known for their high quality flavours. Their range of flavours is quite large as well. We stock over 40 different flavours in the LorAnn Oils range!
LorAnn Oils are preferred by professional candy makers and pastry chefs for making hard candy, especially as the flavour does not diminish at the high temperatures needed when making candy. It’s also brilliant in fondants, frostings and ice creams.
The most important thing to remember is that LorAnn Oil Flavours are three to four times stronger than standard flavoured extracts so you’ll only need ¼ to ½ teaspoons of LorAnn Oil when substituting one teaspoon of standard extract.
LorAnn Oils contain no diacetyl or vegetable oil, are Kosher certified, gluten free, and nut and dairy free. They are also all sugar free except for the Canadian Maple and Horchata flavours.
Yes LorAnn Oils contain alcohol so they aren’t suitable for anyone who has religious reasons for avoiding all alcohol. They are suitable for children though, as the amount of LorAnn Oil you will be using to flavour your baking will not be enough to have any effect.
Yes and no. All LorAnn pure essential oils are Vegan-friendly. Unfortunately, LorAnn cannot guarantee that the other flavourings and specialty ingredients are 100% free of animal origin. Many natural flavour chemicals are found in a variety of sources, and may have been sourced from an animal by-product (ie. a fruit flavour may contain a smoothing effect from a component with a dairy or egg origin).
LorAnn Bakery Emulsions are the preferred choice for professional bakers. They are used almost exclusively as opposed to extracts. Emulsions have a more potent, robust flavour that will not bake out when exposed to heat.
Bakery Emulsions are LorAnn's version of an extract. Emulsions are ideal for baking and to flavour buttercream frosting, but are not appropriate for flavouring chocolate or hard candy due to their high water content; however, emulsions can be used to flavour candy centres. Oil based flavours are ideal for flavouring chocolate.
An excellent choice for flavouring all of your homemade baked goods, including cookies, cakes, pastries, as well as frostings, glazes, and other confectionery items. Also delicious in pancakes, french toast, and yoghurt.
These flavourings are formulated to be the same strength as an "extract" (1 teaspoon emulsion = 1 teaspoon extract), but instead of the flavour being diluted in alcohol, it is suspended in a water-base.
Yes, LorAnn Emulsions are alcohol free (with the exception of Red Velvet which has less than 1%).
Water is a more neutral carrier than alcohol - it imparts no added flavour and does not evaporate as rapidly when exposed to heat. This allows the flavour to taste better, smell better and not "bake-out" as readily as a traditional alcohol-based extract.
Everything we smell and taste, even in nature, is made up of chemicals. Both artificial and natural flavours contain chemicals, often the exact same chemicals, they just come from different places.
Edible food flavours are blends of both synthetic and natural flavour chemicals, usually diluted in a carrier liquid. To create a particular taste chemists blend often hundreds of unique flavour molecules before they create the right taste.
Natural flavours, simply put, are extracted from natural sources such as flowers and fruits, and are then used to create a finished food flavour. Artificial flavours are often the exact same chemical compound, but made in a lab. They are often less expensive to produce and can be more environmentally friendly. They come under stricter purity standards and safety testing than natural flavours and therefore are sometimes considered safer. The quality of artificial flavours are also more consistent due to natural flavours having to contend with seasons, weather patterns, origins, etc.
We hope this has answered some of your questions around food flavourings, if there is still something else you would like to know feel free to give us a call or message us on chat!
