Hi folks,
As I am venturing back into Ideal Protein again, I am doing a bit more experimentation this time around. Previously I had great success but all in all, my food choices and what I was cooking were very monotonous. I am not a very adventurous cook but am trying to change that. I have been inspired to try many of the recipes listed here in these threads.

I got to thinking about extracts, currently I have use a vanilla, peppermint and an almond one but thought I'd check what others may be available out there.

I came across a website called naturesflavors.com and WoWzers!! they have a ton of extracts! Mind you I have no affiliation with the website at all but am just mentioning it because of their VERY INTERESTING offerings, not only in extracts but other stuff (like stevia syrups) too.

I just ordered some extracts to try, check it out (Note: these are all organic, gluten free, kosher, sugar and carb free - except for ironically the vanilla- which a customer service rep on phone told me does have sugar carbs):
Butter Flavor
English Toffee
Ginger Bread
Chocolate Fudge
Cheese (yes, cheese) Flavor (Oh my cauliflower mashies may never be the same!!

I will report back on how these taste once I get them. I must say, they have tons of flavors...not only the ones we generally see (vanilla, coconut, etc.) but some that look to be truly EXCITING!! Some that I saw there (include but not limited to): cherry, apple (red or green), cranberry, cucumber melon, hibiscus, key lime, macadamia, triple sec, white chocolate, bubble gum, butternut squash, butter rum, carrot, carrot cake, cayenne, champagne, fig, guava, horseradish, malt, persimmon, red licorice, sweet corn and zabaglione!!

I think it is always best to check with the ingredients yourself to make sure they are right for IP. Can't wait to try the butter and cheese flavors...it may be bliss!

OMG!!! this sounds heavenly!!! thx for the website!

I forgot to mention I found a coupon code to use that seemed to work for me to get free shipping. The code is: freehibitea
I was able to enter that where it prompted me to do so, then again at last checkout page (before hitting "order") it showed that I had entered this in the coupon box in the upper right and there was a button underneath it which read something like "click for apply coupon or rush shipping". It seems you need to hit that button to get the coupon actually applied BUT if you want rush shipping, extra charges are applied. So I guess you get free regular shipping but not rush shipping.

WyoSky - thank you so much for the information!

This website looks terrific. Thanks.

Well how strange, I placed my order with this company for extracts yesterday and got emailed a confirmation yesterday and another onethis morning...THEN just a little while ago they emailed me to say I had to pay for shipping afterall...! I explained I used a code for free shipping and she said they have no current coupons they are honoring! Why did it get accepted when I placed order then. I apologize if I led anyone else towards this "free shipping" because apparently it is not after all.

Hope the extracts will be worth the trouble...

Hi, I got my extracts I ordered today and I made my supper early because I was so hungry to try them. I made my cauliflower mash "fauxtatoes" but added the cheese extract (cheese, of course that would be the first one I'd go for) and, it is wonderful!! Adds a definite authentic cheese flavor and I love it!

When I first opened the bottle of cheese extract I was a little concerned because I gave it the sniff check and it didn't smell anything like cheese, I smelled the alcohol though. But it worked in the final outcome.

I have read on the forum that many people are told by their coaches not to use extracts if they have alcohol in them...but if you are cooking with them, doesn't the alcohol burn off? Seems like that would be the case.

Hmmm, which one to try next.....

Ok, I just tried the gingerbread extract and it seems to taste very good to me. I was making those little vanilla IP pudding muffins and I put some in with that. I probably should watch how much I put it, very gingery!! Next time I will use a tad less. I had some of that tofutti whipped w/ WF maple syrup and a bit of splenda mixed it (whipped it up in the Bullet) and used very little amount spread on top of each muffin.

I am glad to have these extracts (especially the gingerbread and pumpkin pie) going into the holiday season. I've not tried the pumpkin one yet but am looking forward to that. When I talked to extract company customer service person, I asked her if that pumpkin pie tasted more like the spice (because we can just use straight pumpkin pie spice) or if it tasted more "pumpkiny" (sp) and she said it tasted to her more like flavor of pumpkin.

Oh, let it be sooooo. I love pumpkin anything, too bad we cannot have OP.

Cheers!

Do the extracts have nutritional information on it?

I clicked on Almond and Coffee and both say "Contains Sugar" under additional information.

That is a good question. There are not nutritional labels on the bottles. Ingredients are listed as Water, Organic Ethyl Alcohol and Natural Flavors. What I did was call them at customer service and I asked about carb contents on the ones I was looking to order. They sell their extracts in all sorts of sizes and in volume to food service and manufacturing places so they did have information on large quantity (I don't know if it was the gallon size or bigger contained 75 carbs total in the huge size) but basically told me that when you reduce that down to a teaspoon, it works out to less than .52 carbs which is not much.

Don't forget many IP products already contain "sugars" already! If there are any of the extracts you are interested in, you could try calling and talking with them directly like I did. Good luck!

Cheese extract, who knew, lol! I may have to try that after your product review.

Loved the Pumpkin Pie extract!! I made my IP pudding muffins with it and it was very flavorful. I used the vanilla pudding, 2 egg whites, water, a tad salt, 1 teaspoon of the pumpkin extract and then I added some additional pumpkin pie spice. They definitely tasted a bit more like real pumpkin pie then when I used to just use the pie spice. I think I make these different then most people do, I have a 12 muffin pan and I place small amount of mixture in each of the 12, so the final product looks more like flatter 1/2" disks! Oven at 350 for about 15-17 minutes. Drizzle WF maple syrup on top and I'm good to go!

Since these extracts have alcohol base, I think the best intended use is probably in foods that are to be cooked.

I hope more experienced cooks (Rainbow and others??) can add in their thoughts on the use of extracts.