Generational Salad Dressings

I started making salad dressings as soon as I was married, with Celery Seed and Spinach Dressings (the latter was affectionately nicknamed “Red”) emerging as permanent favorites.  I also catered to preferences for thick Thousand Island, Honey Mustard, and Bleu Cheese, but they were too gloppy and nasty-delicious to become regulars. Real killers.

But anyway, these favorite two dressings (Celery Seed and Spinach) have gone through seasons of evolution over the past 40+ years.  Both of the original first-generation recipes (in the first decade of marriage) called for sugar, vinegar, and salad oil, among other things.  In the second-generation varieties, the sugar bowed out to a favored option, honey.  Everyday oil like corn or safflower gave place to the new kid on the block, canola. 

In the third generation (decade), components continued to change like mutating genetic code.  Commercial honey was replaced, at least in part, with agave nectar and/or stevia – and when honey was used, it was raw rather than cooked. Extra-virgin olive oil (or avocado or walnut, if I felt queenly and extravagant) replaced canola, safflower, or some other oil from seeds. 

And in the fourth generation (decade) sea salt replaced sodium chloride.  Distilled vinegar, or even commercial apple cider vinegar, went by the wayside in favor of Bragg’s raw apple cider vinegar with the beneficial “mother.”

I sense you probably don’t want to know about the “mother” right now.  We’ll save that for later.

Why all the ongoing fuss over salad dressing, you ask?  Because.  We all could benefit from more rabbit food (a fact of life), but the dressing makes or breaks the salad.  What good is a pristine bowl of fresh greens overflowing with living enzymes, antioxidants, fiber, and important vitamins and minerals, if it is denatured with vile dressing? 

The standard American dressing, Hidden Valley Ranch, is a mean critter.  It puts on a happy face - even little kids like it - but the ingredient listing might as well be an attack dog.  MSG is toxic to the human body and predisposes us to migraines and serious neurological conditions.  Refined sugar and chemicals are also hazardous (think drug-like, addictive, disruptive), as is soy oil, the main ingredient that can encourage thyroid dysfunction and increase risks for chronic disease.

I don’t know if there will be a fifth generational shift in my dressing ingredients or not; the current versions seem squeaky clean unless new data emerges to change my mind (which has obviously happened before).  All I know is that when it comes to dressings, I’m gradually becoming okay with less: simple splashes of olive oil and freshly squeezed lemon juice with a little sea salt and freshly ground pepper are enough.