alcohol in cooking

[Guest guest]

I vaguely remember back in about July, somebody going

through transplant mentioning alcohol (I am presuming it was Barb, Tim or

). They were consuming absolutely NO alcohol, not even in cooking. I

have a question. With Christmas cooking coming up, the essence you can buy to flavor

things is supposedly alcoholic ie vanilla, rum flavoured and peppermint essence.

Can I use these, or are they alcoholic? It will make it a very flavour free Christmas

if I can’t.

Thanks for your comments,

Penny T (in Australia)

[Guest guest]

Penny wrote:

>

> I vaguely remember back in about July, somebody going through

> transplant mentioning alcohol (I am presuming it was Barb, Tim or

> ). They were consuming absolutely NO alcohol, not even in

> cooking. I have a question. With Christmas cooking coming up, the

> essence you can buy to flavor things is supposedly alcoholic ie

> vanilla, rum flavoured and peppermint essence. Can I use these, or are

> they alcoholic? It will make it a very flavour free Christmas if I can’t.

>

Most extracts are in alcohol, although it is sometimes possible to find

them without. If you're concerned about it, you could try a web search.

There are also some alternatives such as using peppermint candies

crushed for peppermint flavor instead of using peppermint extract.

I was never told not to use alcohol in the small amounts it comes in

things like that though. I think that different transplant teams have

different philosophies in that regard. My own personal philosophy is

that amounts of alcohol that small really won't make much difference

(and I'm a lifelong teetotaler). You probably get more alcohol in a loaf

of fresh bread (from the fermenting yeast during rising) than in 1/4

teaspoon of flavoring!

That's how I look at it anyway... others may have different results!

athan

[Guest guest]

>

> I vaguely remember back in about July, somebody going through transplant

> mentioning alcohol (I am presuming it was Barb, Tim or ).

They were

> consuming absolutely NO alcohol, not even in cooking. I have a question.

> With Christmas cooking coming up, the essence you can buy to flavor

things

> is supposedly alcoholic ie vanilla, rum flavoured and peppermint

essence.

> Can I use these, or are they alcoholic? It will make it a very

flavour free

> Christmas if I can't.

>

> Thanks for your comments,

>

>

>

> Penny T (in Australia)

>

Hi:

A related question that I can't find the info for on the web. Many

foods now have 'sugar alcohol' in them. I don't think it's related to

true alcohol but is put in foods since I guess it's mostly not

digestible. My question is would foods containing this sugar alcohol

(Anything from Sugar Free Gum to Power Bars to other food products)

present a problem to the liver?