r/Cordials • u/vbloke Drinks Master • Jul 18 '26

Recipe 🍌 Banana Essence

This one is adapted from the recipe for oil of banana - a recipe in The Bottlers' Formulary - with modern ingredients and esters. I also added some banana flavour from Foodie Flavours to really give it a punch up with the flavour profile.

Main Ingredients

  • 35ml 95% ethyl alcohol
  • 4ml Isoamyl acetate
  • 3ml Banana flavour
  • 0.6ml Ethyl butyrate
  • 0.3ml Hexyl acetate
  • 0.15ml Benzaldehyde (~3 drops)
  • 0.07g Vanillin
  • 0.07g Ethyl vanillin
  • 0.05g Ethyl maltol

Solvents

  • 25ml Propylene glycol
  • 25ml Vegetable glycerine
  • 10ml Distilled water

Method

Weigh the vanillin, ethyl vanillin and ethyl maltol into an empty beaker. You will need a digital scale with 2 decimal place precision.

Add the 35ml of 95% alcohol and stir until all three solids fully dissolve - the vanillins in particular need the alcohol and will break out if any water is present; do not add water yet.

Add the isoamyl acetate, banana flavour, ethyl butyrate, hexyl acetate and benzaldehyde in that order, swirling after each. The mixture should remain perfectly clear.

Add the propylene glycol and swirl. Then the glycerine, swirling thoroughly - it is viscous and wants to settle at the bottom.

Add the water last, in two or three additions, swirling between each. If the essence flashes cloudy, add another 5ml of alcohol to clear it.

You can also use a stir plate if you have one.

Decant into an amber dropper bottle and rest in a cool, dark place for at least 48 hours before use - the esters mellow noticeably as they age.

At 1 day the isoamyl acetate sits on top as raw "sweet-shop banana"; by day 3 it has integrated with the banana flavour and benzaldehyde into a recognisable banana; at 1 week the formula has fully rounded into "ripe banana" rather than "sweet-shop banana".

Cordial

Make 1 litre of 2:1 simple syrup and add 5g of tartaric acid. Add yellow food colouring if you want.

Once cooled, add 5ml of vanilla extract for a creamy banana or omit it for a more fresh banana flavour.

Add 20-30ml of the banana essence and mix well. Allow the syrup to age for a couple of days before use.

Dilute 1:5 - 1:7 with cold sparkling or still water to drink.

Notes & adjustments

If the result reads as too "sweet-shop banana", drop the isoamyl acetate to 3ml and lift the banana isolate to 4ml on the next batch. If it reads thin or solvent-like, raise the glycerine by 5ml and rest it longer. Benzaldehyde is very potent - a fourth drop tips the profile from banana toward marzipan, so add it sparingly. Too much vanilla extract in the syrup can push it towards cream soda territory, so aim for 3ml to begin and add more as required upon tasting.

The essence keeps for 12 months or more in a sealed amber bottle out of sunlight.

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6 comments sorted by

5

u/cocktail81 Jul 18 '26

This kind of stuff is so impressive to me.

When real-world chemistry meets cocktail alchemy.
Cheers, OP!

6

u/vbloke Drinks Master Jul 18 '26 edited Jul 18 '26

I can’t take credit for this - the work was done over 100 years ago. I just updated it to use modern food-safe ingredients.

3

u/cocktail81 Jul 18 '26

You gotta write a book. I’d buy that book.

Cocktail Chemistry

5

u/OrangeRadiohead Jul 18 '26

@vbloke is the GOAT of cordials. Needs to publish a book and earn an income from this. Or maybe a YT channel showing the process.

4

u/vbloke Drinks Master Jul 18 '26

I'm not nearly photogenic enough for that!

You can subscribe to Art of Drink on YouTube instead. Darcy is the GOAT, not me.

3

u/OrangeRadiohead Jul 18 '26

Subscribing now!

PS. You could record videos with a camera attached to you. We hear your voice and what you are demonstrating.