Salad Days are coming. What is your favorite bottled dressing? I have posted more options.

[Just A Box Of Rain]

52. I've made my own salad dressings For over 50 years.

It was the first “cooking” lesson I gave to my son and I think it is one of the best (and simplest) things one can do for one’s health, one’s palate, and one’s budget.

The low quality high-polyunsaturated fats in most bottled dressings are nasty for one’s health, taste bad, and the products are expensive.

Better to use EVO (extra-virgin olive oil) and to have a collection of different “acids” (vinegars and citrus juices). I mostly (but not exclusively) use vinegars I ferment myself.

I typically put a little salt into a mortar with a clove of garlic and mash it, then add a little mustard to act as an emulsifier (miso also works), then mix in oil and vinegar in a 3/1 to 4/1 proportion (depending on the strength of the acid).

That’s the basic recipes, which one can twist in a myriad of ways, adding different herbs, cheeses, fruits, sweeteners, or other flavoring agents. The world is one’s oyster in that regard.

One a person gets used to having quality salad dressing, no one would willingly go back to bottled dressings.