I recently made some lemon oil. Here's how I made it (question at the bottom): I took the zest of about 12 lemons, packed it in a half pint jar, filled it to the top with 80 proof vodka. Left it in the window sill for about 5 days. Then I strained the zest out of it. I placed the remaining vodka/lemon mixture in the same half pint glass jar, and placed it in a pot of "almost boiling" water to heat it up to evaporate the alcohol off. I monitored the temperature of the solution and it varied between 180-190 degrees. The solution was boiling, telling me that the ethanol was boiling off. I waited till I didn't see any more bubbles in the solution. I then took it out, strained it again. So, theoretically, what I had left was lemon oil.
QUESTION: It didn't really have the consistency of "oil" – it was still kind of watery. Does lemon oil have a thick consistency like vegetable oil?
Best Answer
It appears that you made some type of lemon extract, as opposed to a lemon oil. Probably good, but not lemon oil. There are two ways I know of to infuse flavor into oil. Both involve starting with oil...either a neutral oil or an olive oil. First is to heat the oil with the desired flavor product, thus extracting the flavor into the oil. The other, does not require heat and, therefore, protects the quality of the oil (such as with an olive oil that my be destroyed by heat). That is to use an isi-type whipping canister. Here is the process: http://www.starchefs.com/product_education/iSi/whipper/html/recipe-lemon-infused-extra-virgin-olive-oil-dave-arnold.shtml