Can you drink heated/boiled vegetable glycerin

[shubhr0]

Hi everyone,

My name is shubh, and I am new to the forum. I am working on a beverage recipe and had a question related to using vegetable glycerin.

I am planning to heat/boil vegetable glycerin with cinnamon to infuse the oil in it.
But i am not sure if it is healthy to drink it after cooling. I couldn't find the answer anywhere on the internet, so here i am.

Can anyone provide insight on this?

Thanks in advance!
Regards
Shubh

 

[dragnlaw]

From what I've just read, I personally would not use it. There are as many side effects as there are benefits.

I suggest you do a little more research. The information is out there, you just need to find it.

Why do you feel you need to use the glycerin? Is there not something else you can use to infuse the cinnamon into?

 

[Kathleen]

Hope you stick around while doing your research. Welcome to DC!

 

[shubhr0]

Thank you @Kathleen for the warm welcome. I am happy being able to interact with knowledgeable and helpful people here, and m sure i will be regular here now.

Thank you @dragnlaw for the quick reply and thoughts. I understand the reason of side effects, but i did researched earlier and it said consuming 1g per 1kg body weight is okay for human (although m not sure if they meant it as an elixir). But i also read that it is widely used in beverages. Also, in my case i am using it to make just the flavor, so it would be 5-6% of final beverage. But it is all based on amature research, please let me know if you think it would still be bad for health.

And the heating is to get the flavor quickly, that concerns me further about health side effects.

As said earlier, inspite of searching a lot, i couldn't get the answer, as some say be cautious of overheating, while some say no heating at all, while some say not to consume veg glycerin at all, and some call it a normal in beverages. Very confused i came here, would be thankful if you or someone can shed light on this.

 

[shubhr0]

* PS : Forgot tom mention why using it. So it works as emulsifier, soluble in water and oil, and it is both cheap and non alcoholic (preferred) alternative. And it is said to be a preservative too, so good for flavor extracted to not go bad soon.

 

[dragnlaw]

My bad shubhr0, I neglected to say Welcome.

So to echo what Kathleen said, Welcome to DC!

 

[dragnlaw]

I am not a scientist but would not a chemical analyst be necessary to see what the changes would happen? I have no idea how you would go about that.
Have you spoken to any one in the medical world?

Another suggestion would be to find a manufacturer in the food industry that already use it and ask them how much they deem safe and in what manner.

 

[taxlady]

Or ask a scientist in the chemistry or food departments of a university.

 

[shubhr0]

Thanks @dragnlaw and @ taxlady

Thats a good idea to look at it scientifically. Although i was looking if there was a general practice that someone may know of. Like its a generally bad practice to heat honey. Or even if someone can suggest a better alternative to infuse flavors, i thought about gum arabic but the issue again comes up with heating. Anyways, will be happy to hear if there are any more thoughts.

 

[Jade Emperor]

I’m not sure what you are trying to achieve here. Is it molecular gastronomy?

 

[shubhr0]

Nothing complex like that. Its just a flavor extraction through infusion in a flavorless medium. This will be used for beverage.

 

[dragnlaw]

Boil some water, bring down to a simmer, drop in cinnamon stick, let simmer until water turns deep brown (approx 10 minutes), remove stick, cool, drink.

Edit:
experiment with quantities of water and number of cinnamon sticks - depending on depth of flavour you are looking for.

 

[Jade Emperor]

Boil some water, bring down to a simmer, drop in cinnamon stick, let simmer until water turns deep brown (approx 10 minutes), remove stick, cool, drink.

Edit:
experiment with quantities of water and number of cinnamon sticks - depending on depth of flavour you are looking for.

This ^
I can’t work out why you need vegetable glycerin?
Why?

 

[shubhr0]

It is something i learned from internet, the thing is that when you extract flavor from any ingredient, it comes out as its oil. So to make it mixable with water, you need to infuse that oil into something that can mix in both water and oil. Also, cinnamon is just one of a few other ingredients.

So some people simply put ingredient in glycerin for a few weeks to absorb the flavor, while others heat the ingredient infusing it with some oil. I am aiming at using glycerin directly to infuse the ing. oil, so it would be mixable in water.

Ps : i am new to the cooking world. So let me know if this does not make sense in some way or if there is a better way to do this.

 

[shubhr0]

Also, my major concern here is : is heated veg glycerin okay to be used in beverages. So even if we forget about infusion etc. Just out of curiosity as well, would like to know the answer to that question. Hope that makes sense.

 

[dragnlaw]

shubhro - we are home cooks, not chemists or scientists. It would depend on quantity, time, strength, etc. I, for one, would never presume to tell you it is OK and go ahead.
You really have to hit up the university's science departments, food industry that uses it, etc.
Are you thinking to sell this product? Do you have a Food Regulatory Department there?

 

[shubhr0]

@dragnlaw lol, i am also a home cook, infact an ammature one at that.

For quantity/ strength as i said earlier it would be not be much, like almost half teaspoon for a glass of beverage. For time, in heating it would be approx 10 mins, once made i would be using it for weeks/months though.



I am trying to make multiple flavored beverages for home use or may be sharing with friends n guests, so no selling. I like to have non alcoholic drinks at home n its just too costly, less diverse and very less healthy to buy from market. So i want to make what traditional recipes suggest on internet, just in a faster way. But going to university for this seems a bit of a stretch, will see if that ever happens.



I dont see why you say that about advising, i mean if someone ask me if its bad to heat honey, i would say yes it is. Is it good to keep milk near sour things, i would say no. Its simple as that, but if not many people know about it, then thats a different thing and thats fine too. Will keep searching, and meanwhile will keep an eye here, in case someone knows
!

 

[dragnlaw]

Well, it's an ingredient I've never heard of and therefore can't give you any advice on using it. Only advice on where you might find good advice.
I also don't give advice unless I can say why it is that way.

I had never heard of not heating honey. It turns out it is not recommended but... do you know why?
So many rumours are started with half truths. But when people know why then first of all, they are more likely to remember and secondly - be in a position to explain their reasonings, justify their actions and not based just a rumour!

2 examples: Don't feed your dog watermelon, grapes, apple cores. Well, it is a half truth! It is the seeds that are not good. Pits, seeds, etc can be harmful. but to just say Don't feed them Fruit! is wrong.
Don't give your dog ice cubes in his water on a hot day. Another half truth. If your dog is in extreme stress due to heat - he is liable to gulp all the water down including the ice cubes and several things can happen, bloat, choking, breaking a tooth. But with proper fore thought, it is fine!

 

[dragnlaw]

LOL... to continue
If you are making your friends (or yourself) a hot drink, then just use a cinnamon stick to stir - as in Hot Rum Toddy's made here around Christmas times.
If it is during the hot season and with cold drinks, then as you have said, for the amounts you would use - infuse the cinnamon sticks in hot water to the strength you would like, store it in a closed container (and fridge) and add as much as you would like to the beverage.

Which makes me think of... Ginger Ale and/or Ginger Beer.

 

[taxlady]

But going to university for this seems a bit of a stretch, will see if that ever happens.

Just send an email asking about it then. Heck, you could ask at any university in the world where they are likely to read and write a language that you can read and write.

Some flavours are water soluble; some are fat (oil) soluble, and some are alcohol soluble.