I’ll argue with anyone that strawberry-flavored anything is one of the best things we as humans have created in the culinary world. Think about it: you can get the fanciest foods everyday of your life, but regardless of that you’ll still be excited to eat strawberry ice cream, strawberry frosting on your brownies, strawberry lemonade, and the ton of other delicious strawberry-related options!
Now, I know that I may be a bit too confident in that statement, but the fact is that most people love strawberry-flavored things – which is where strawberry extract comes into play!
It’s extremely convenient, providing you with the option to quickly add a delicious strawberry taste to your desserts, beverages, ice cream, and more! Plus, it’s an easy way to substitute for real strawberries if you don’t have any on hand.
On top of all that, strawberry extract (at least the stuff we like) is made from actual strawberries, so you can be sure you’re getting natural flavoring rather than the artificial stuff that we’re plagued with these days.
You also want to be sure that your strawberry extract is high-quality and worth your money, which is exactly why we’ve created this list of the best strawberry extracts you can buy!
Let’s jump in!
What is strawberry extract?
Strawberry extract is quite simply a very concentrated liquid that’s chock-full of strawberry flavor. It’s made by taking strawberries, slicing them up, and letting them soak in alcohol for a long period of time (we’re talking weeks to months!).
You’ll usually find that the alcohol is unflavored vodka, which acts as a solvent and extracts the delicious strawberry flavor from the fruits. The resulting liquid is then strained to get rid of any bigger strawberry chunks, and that’s your strawberry extract!
It has quite a strong flavor, only requiring a few drops to really add that taste to basically anything. A couple drops go a long way, and the alcohol ensures that your extract has a much longer shelf-life than your box of strawberries!
How to use strawberry extract in recipes
Strawberry extract is mainly used to add that delicious strawberry flavor to nearly anything. For example, you can add some to your salads, make strawberry lemonade, or add some to your bakes such as cookies and strudels!
But, one of my favorite ways to use strawberry extract is to add flavor to out-of-season or frozen strawberries. There have been too many times where I’ll get a more watery flavor out of my strawberries, but adding a dash of strawberry extract brings back that beautiful natural flavor!
For a standard batch of anything you’re adding strawberry flavor to (like beverages and salads), add ¼ to 1 teaspoon of the extract. You can increase it as needed, but remember that it’s very concentrated! Now if you’re baking with it, it comes down to how much you’re making. Try using 1-3 teaspoons for standard batches of cookies and muffins, but it might take a little experimenting to find out what you like best!
If you have a strawberry emulsion, you can substitute strawberry extract in at a 1:1 ratio (an emulsion is essentially the same thing, but uses water instead of alcohol, creating differences in boiling points and taste retention).
3 great recipes to use your strawberry extract
The thing about recipes that call for strawberries usually need the consistency of them as well, which doesn’t always mean that you should completely switch out actual strawberries for strawberry extract. However, you can always use strawberry extract to enhance the flavor, and even use it as a standalone ingredient in certain recipes if you don’t have strawberries on hand:
- Strawberry milk: Strawberry milk is as delicious now as an adult as it was when we were kids. Most recipes call for strawberry syrup, which tends to be chock-full of sugar and artificial flavoring. This recipe uses a combination of actual strawberries, sugar, and water to create a homemade syrup. That’s great, but you can easily switch all that out by simply adding a couple drops of strawberry extract to some milk, with sugar added as needed.
- Strawberry and coconut cream dairy free popsicles: This is one of those recipes that I recommend keeping the actual strawberries in, but you can easily substitute the vanilla extract in it for strawberry extract if you want even more of the flavor! I love these popsicles because they offer a refreshing and hydrating snack, which is especially great for the summers!
- Vanilla strawberry swirl ice cream: Ice cream combined with strawberry is a classic combo, and this recipe does all the right things. If you’re OK with missing the actual “swirl” part of this, you can replace the strawberry preserves with strawberry extract – LorAnn recommends using 1-2 teaspoons of the extract per every 16 oz of ice cream. Otherwise, enhance the flavor with a couple drops to the original recipe!
How to choose the best strawberry extract
Strawberry extract comes in many shapes and sizes, so we want to ensure that you’re getting the best of the best! In order to do that, we’ve created this list of criteria that every product needs to go through:
- Ingredients: No artificial flavorings, no added sugar, and no sketchy ingredient lists. We want transparency and the purest ingredients you can get, bringing out the most flavorful extract!
- Consumer feedback: It’s so important to listen to what kind of experiences other people have had with products, and so we’re always scouring the reviews for all the products we test!
- Track record: Does a brand have the reputation for listening to their customers and aiming to make the best products responsibly? Or are they involved in scandals and lots of complaints? A brand’s track record says a lot about their product!
- Price: Everything from budget-friendly options to more pricey products, we’ve got something whether you’re looking to save or splurge.
Now that we’ve gotten through all that, let’s jump into the rankings:
#1 Best Overall: McCormick
Starting right off at number 1, we have McCormick’s strawberry extract!
You’ve likely heard of McCormick, and have likely even used their products! They’re pretty much synonymous with flavoring agents, and have a strong reputation that’s placed them on our “bests” lists many times!
Now, their strawberry extract has no artificial flavors or colors, is non-GMO and gluten-free, and delivers a delicious taste that’ll have you reaching for the bottle over-and-over. It also comes at a great price, ringing in at $2.21 per fluid ounce!
You’ll enjoy McCormick’s strawberry extract for baking and adding to different beverages, all while enjoying a balanced taste that represents the freshness of strawberries.
Definitely give this one a try!
Ingredients: Water, Alcohol, Strawberry Juice, Natural Flavor (Including Extractives of Strawberry), & Lactic Acid
#2 Best Value: OliveNation
Why pay the most when you can get an amazing strawberry extract for less?
OliveNation offers a wonderful strawberry extract that you can get for an absolutely amazing price – just $1.00 per fluid ounce! Now, OliveNation hasn’t been in the game for nearly as long as some of these others, like McCormick and Watkins (check out number 3 on this list), but they’ve consistently provided delicious and high-quality extracts – and their strawberry extract is no different!
A great product at a great price, what more could we ask for?
Ingredients: Water, Alcohol, Glycerin, Strawberry Juice Concentrate, and Natural Strawberry Flavors
#3 Baker’s Favorite: Watkins
Watkins has been a baker’s favorite for over a century, delivering high-quality products that represent the brand’s intense attention to detail for +150 years!
Their products are constantly in our “bests” lists, and they’ve been one of our most trusted brands in the Coconut Mama family for several extracts. Watkins’ strawberry extract is absolutely delicious with a balanced flavor that provides a natural strawberry taste. They boast nearly 1500 reviews that are overwhelmingly positive, just as with many of their other products.
Try Watkins strawberry extract, and you’ll see exactly why so many bakers choose them over-and-over again!
Ingredients: Water, Alcohol, Glycerin, Natural flavors, Citric acid, Extractive of strawberry
#4 Best Kosher: Happy Home
Happy Home is a small business that we’re excited to share! They have some amazing flavoring extracts, and offer a strawberry extract that’ll have you wondering if they have as big of a company as Watkins and McCormick!
Their strawberry extract provides a beautiful blend of flavors that has no artificial colors and is kosher certified, making it an attractive option to many of us. Plus, it’s on the cheaper side of the list, coming in at $2.74 per fluid ounce. That’s a great price, especially since you get to support a small business coming out of the USA!
Give this one a try!
Ingredients: Natural Flavors, Water, Alcohol, Propylene Glycol
#5 Honorable Mention: Vanilla Bean Kings
Vanilla Bean Kings makes some great extracts, and offer so many options that you won’t know where to start!
However, looking at their strawberry extract, you’ll see a great representation of what you can expect from this company. It has a great balanced taste that is gluten-free, non-GMO, and sugar free, without sacrificing flavor.
While they may not have ranked higher, I do like these guys. But for the price of $3.75 per fluid ounce I would recommend checking out one of the above options, as this strawberry extract doesn’t provide anything revolutionary that you’d have to shell out a couple extra bucks for – although, you won’t be disappointed if you do!
Ingredients: Water, Alcohol, Glycerin, Strawberry Juice Concentrate, and Natural Strawberry Flavors
#6 Honorable Mention: Cook’s
Cook’s is another awesome brand that we want to give a shout-out to!
They’re a family business that started back in 1918, and has since made some awesome flavoring products. Their strawberry extract is wonderful, offering a pure product that is well-received by their customers. However, they’re the second most expensive on this list coming in at $4.25 per fluid ounce, which stops it from ranking higher in this list.
Ingredients: Alcohol, propylene glycol, strawberry juice concentrate, natural flavors, and water
#7 Honorable Mention: Frontier Co-op
Frontier Co-op’s product is sugar-free, kosher certified, all-natural, and…alcohol free?
Yup, there’s no alcohol involved in making this, so it’s technically not an extract, but a flavoring agent. This isn’t necessarily bad, but it can change how these are presented in bakes and other dishes – something to keep in mind!
I also wanted to mention that Frontier Co-op is a, well, co-op. That means it’s member owned, mainly by the stores and other organizations that sell their products. Frontier Co-op states that they’re owned by their wholesale customers, claiming an impressive 40,000 member owners. Plus, they emphasize ethical practices, aiming to leave a positive mark on the world!
Ingredients: Sunflower Oil, Natural Flavors
Others we reviewed
With the massive amount of strawberry extracts and other strawberry-flavoring agents, not every product makes the cut…and that’s because we’re looking for the best of the best, not settling for anything less than high-quality and delicious!
Now, we reviewed a brand called LorAnn, which is a quite popular and well-received company. However, their strawberry product is an emulsion – which isn’t a bad thing – but also contains artificial flavoring and coloring, which we don’t like.
Natural products are something we’re very passionate about here at Coconut Mama, because we understand that those products tend to be the healthiest, high-quality, and most delicious out of all products. Plus, it shows us that a brand puts the customer first, rather than trying to cut costs or time with artificial additives.
We do like LorAnn for some of their products, like their coffee extract, but for the reasons above we can not recommend their strawberry extract.
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