How would you
like to sprinkle granulated or powdered sugar on your favorite salad? That's in
fact what most consumers do every day without realizing it. Industrial salad
dressings, all of the major brands, from Hidden Valley Ranch to Wishbone to
Newman’s Own are loaded with added sugar. And if you think the
fat-free version will help with your diet, think again. It will generally have
even more sugar. Check on Bon’App and be
prepared for a shock! For example, a bottle of Hidden Valley Ranch salad
dressing has 4 teaspoons of sugar. Look at the Fat-free Hidden Valley
Ranch salad dressing; it has 12 teaspoons of sugar, three times more
sugar than the regular one!
The solution?
Make your own tasty vinaigrette for the week, store it in your fridge, and live
healthier. It is as simple as that.
Here’s
a little bit of historical background to understand how salad dressing was
originally created, without sugar added to it. The only intention was making
the salad tastier. Vinaigrettes
generally include a fat component (such
as vegetable or olive oil) and an acidic component (such as a citrus juice or
vinegar.) One of the first vinaigrette recipes can be traced back to the 14th
century. It appeared in Taillevent’s
cookbook, Le
Viandier. Guillaume Tirel (known
as Taillevent in France) worked as head-chef for four kings of France
throughout the 14th century. Taillevent’s vinaigrette
recipe suggests using fat from cooked pork and sautéing
some chopped onions in it. Once cooked, add some cinnamon, ginger, various
spices, a little bit of saffron and vinegar. Boil these ingredients together
and add some salt. Taillevent says you can enjoy this vinaigrette on your
salads and/or fresh vegetables.
Industrial salad
dressings have evolved quite far from Taillevent’s
original vinaigrette recipe. Driven by profit, the packaged goods industry
started cutting back on these simple, basic ingredients. They began to add
water (generally the number one ingredient in bottled salad dressing), flavor
(to hide the fact that they use water instead of pure oil and vinegar), and
lots of preservatives to make the dressing shelf-stable for months. They
started adding sugar to their recipes, primarily because sugar is a cheap
flavor enhancer that also helps extend shelf life.
If you compare the
ingredients between the Italian dressing you can make in 3 minutes with only
5 ingredients, the Wishbone Italian Dressing (18 ingredients), and the Hidden
Valley Italian Dressing (19 ingredients), you may be shocked. Let’s
be realistic, you would not suspect that a simple Italian vinaigrette dressing
could be so unhealthy and full of added Sugar and various unpronounceable
chemicals. The ugly truth is that it is. Here is a comparison between the DIY
Italian Vinaigrette and the two leading competitors in the nearly three
billion-dollar salad dressing industry of the U.S. market.
Hidden
Valley Italian Dressing, 19 Ingredients:
Water, canola oil, sugar, balsamic vinegar, vinegar, salt, honey, red wine
vinegar, phosphoric acid, dried onion, dried garlic, dried red bell pepper,
spices, xanthan gum, sorbic acid, sodium benzoate, potassium sorbate, calcium
disodium EDTA, paprika extracts.
Wishbone
Italian Dressing, 18 Ingredients: Water,
soybean oil, canola oil, distilled vinegar, sugar, salt, dehydrated garlic,
dehydrated onion, dehydrated red bell peppers, maltodextrin, xanthan gum,
spices, autolyzed yeast extract, calcium disodium EDTA, natural flavor, lemon
juice concentrate, caramel color, annatto extract.
Do-It-Yourself
Italian Vinaigrette, 5 Ingredients: Olive oil, balsamic
vinegar, salt, pepper, dried oregano
We challenge you to start making your own vinaigrette
dressings, devoid of added Sugar, useless chemicals, and water that should have
never been a part of the recipe to begin with. Making your very own dressing
will empower you to change the way you approach food altogether. At Bon’App,
we are committed to bringing you a nutritious lifestyle, which is why we have
provided you an incredibly simple Italian Vinaigrette recipe to get you
started.
Ready in: 3 minutes
Prep time: 3
minutes
Cook time: 0
minutes
Makes: 6 servings
(1 ½ tablespoon
each)
Ingredients:
3 tablespoons
Balsamic or Wine vinegar
6 tablespoons
Olive oil
½ teaspoon
salt
½ teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon Dried Oregano (or dried basil) optional
Preparation:
Add the 3 tablespoons of vinegar, 1 teaspoon Dried Oregano (or dried basil), ½ teaspoon
salt, ½ teaspoon
pepper in a bowl and stir well.
Add 6 tablespoons
olive oil and stir well again. Done.
Tips:
Store at room temperature for use in the next two hours, or in the fridge, up
to a week, for future uses. Stir well before serving to emulsify again,
similarly to when you originally made it. Don’t
be afraid to experiment with and customize your vinaigrettes. In fact, that is
how you’ll discover the perfect vinaigrette to complement your
salad. For instance, you may add ½
clove of crushed garlic or a touch of dried garlic to spice up your salad
dressing. As always, we wish you bon appétit!
