Why should I avoid commercial dressing salad : Most commercial salad dressings are made with water and corn syrup. This is a shame because they can be delicious and nourishing. These products do not contain food and they don’t nourish you. They waste your money and reduce the nutritional value in your salad. While shopping at the supermarket, I checked the ingredients of four popular salad dressings. You will be interested to know what I found out. The first product I selected was Wishbone Italian salad dressing. I must admit I was surprised when I learned that water is the first ingredient of Wishbone Italian dressing. Trust your instincts if this seems odd to you. It’s not only expensive to buy water this way, but also shocking that it is passed off as Italian salad. Italian dressing, traditionally, is made with olive oil and vinegar. Many cultures combine greens and fats in their dishes, which has led me to wonder if there is a particular benefit to this combination. But I digress.
Wishbone Italian dressing: the shocking ingredients
This so-called Italian salad’s first ingredient was water, not olive oil. The dressing also contained soybean oil, canola and distilled vinegars, sugar, red bell pepper and dehydrated onion, as well as spices, xantham, EDTA and autolyzed Yeast Extract, along with other ingredients such a maltodextrin and xantham, annatto and caramel color to make it yellow. The annatto was added to the dressing in order to make it look like olive oil, which is not present.
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Hidden Valley Fat Free Ranch: Hidden Sugars
Hidden Valley Fat-Free Ranch was the next product that I tested. The ingredient list for Wishbone Italian began with water. Next came corn syrup, maltodextrin (made from wheat or corn, depending on the price at the time) and sugar. The four ingredients (corn starch, maltodextrin and sugar) all work to incorporate sugar into the product. Sugar increases insulin levels, which is required to digest your food. Buttermilk was the sixth ingredient. Buttermilk is high in proteins. The nutrition label on the jar listed 0 grams, so you could make your own conclusions about the amount of buttermilk in the jar.
Kraft Catalina is like pouring syrup on your salad
I then checked Kraft Catalina – a sweet American French salad. First, there was high-fructose Corn Syrup, then water, tomato puree (called “tomato purée”), soybean oil and vinegar. Then, 12 other ingredients, which accounted for less than 2 percent of the product, including red dye 40 and yellow dye 6. These ingredients are probably responsible for the orange color. There’s also the sugar. Catalina dressing contains 10 grams of carbohydrates, of which 9 grams are sugar. You could compare it to pouring pancake syrup over your salad. Or mixing lettuce into your dessert.
The truth about Kraft Balsamic Wine: Ingredients to Avoid
Finally, I bought a bottle Kraft Balsamic vinegar. Water was the first ingredient. After “water”, there were “vegetable oil” (also defined as “canola or soybean oil, extra virgin olive oils”), “balsamic” vinegar (wine, grape juice and water), “extra virgin olive oils” (and a list of other non-food ingredients). Each of these ingredients accounted for less than 2%.
A Simple, Nutritious Salad Dressing Alternative
What am I trying say? These products aren’t food. Instead, I’d offer a recipe that’s much healthier, much tastier and much more nutritious. Combine 3 Tbsp. Mix together 3 Tbsp. Balsamic vinegar or 1 tsp. salt. Sprinkle salt over the washed greens and toss.
Recipes for Homemade Salad Dressings You Must Try
What are the other options? Below I have listed a few of the salad dressings that I love. Combine all ingredients, except for the last, in a small jar or bottle. Mix well and then refrigerate. These dressings are all tasty and nutritious. Skip the salt if you’re sensitive. You can enjoy the same flavor without salt.
1)Balsamic Vinaigrette
The Balsamic Vinaigrette can be made using 1/4 cup balsamic vinaigrette, 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil and 2 Tbsp. Lemon juice, 2 Tbsp. Soy sauce, 3 cloves of garlic mashed with 1/2 teaspoon. Salt, 1/4 tsp. Freshly ground pepper. Before mixing the ingredients, use a mortar and pestle or a fork to smash the garlic cloves in the salt.
2) Tahini Salad Dressing
Tahini salad dressing is made by combining 1 minced garlic clove, 3/4 cup tahini with 1/4 cup lemon juice and 2 tablespoons. Olive oil with salt according to taste. When you add lemon juice to tahini and it thickens, drizzle a teaspoon at a time of water to loosen it up. This dressing is good for a couple of days. It’s one of my favorites and is especially delicious when poured over a Lebanese Salad composed of 2 small diced cukes, 2 small diced tomato, 3 diced red radishes and 10 sliced mint. You can serve 2-3 people, but you may choose to eat it all yourself.
3) Classic French Vinaigrette
The Classic French Vinaigrette recipe is 1/2 cup white wine vinegar, 1 Tbsp. honey, 1 Tbsp. prepared Dijon-style mustard, 1/2 tsp. Black pepper, ground to a fine powder, 1 tsp. salt, 2 tsp. Garlic minced, 1 cup olive oil and salt. Mix all ingredients, except for the olive oil. Pour the olive oil in very slowly, a tablespoon or so at a time. Continue to mix the mixture. The thickening texture is due to the “emulsion” that’s formed. You can add up to 2-4 drops hot sauce if that’s your thing. However, it won’t be the classic French vinaigrette.
4) Louise’s Easy dressing Recipe
Louise, a friend of mine, wrote to me to tell us that she “just squeezes some lemon juice on the salad, adds a little oil, and some Zaatar (a Mediterranean spice widely available now) and tosses.” It’s delicious and very easy. Please do not change the content.