My mom and I spent the day Friday going to garage sales. Along the way, I picked up a sweet set of French recipes in the form of jumbo playing cards:
One recipe stood out to me right away. I’ve been wanting to make homemade mayonnaise for a while now, and that was one of the first cards I pulled out of the deck. I had all the ingredients, so I figured I’d give it a whirl.
Traditional store-bought mayo has always made me nervous. I am not entirely comfortable with an egg-based product using lots of preservatives to allow the mayo in the tub to not spoil after sitting for months on a shelf at room temperature—I’m not a food scientist of any kind, but my gut says the original version is probably better for our bodies and our digestion. The ingredient list on the tub of mayo in my fridge reads:
WATER, SOYBEAN OIL, MODIFIED STARCH (CORN, POTATO)**, EGGS, SUGAR, SALT, VINEGAR, LEMON JUICE, SORBIC ACID** AND CALCIUM DISODIUM EDTA (USED TO PROTECT QUALITY), NATURAL FLAVOR, VITAMIN E.
**INGREDIENT NOT IN MAYONNAISE. (What? You just said it was. And also, EDTA is short for “Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid.” You know me, I don’t like eating foods I can’t pronounce.)
Compare that to the recipe I found which uses just five ingredients: lemon juice, Dijon mustard, salt, egg and olive oil. Ahhh, beautiful simplicity.
The Verdict:
This homemade mayo recipe could not have been easier, and I’m thrilled to have a new recipe to my repertoire of products I don’t have to buy anymore.
Be sure to use farm-fresh or pasteurized eggs, since the eggs won’t be cooked. This will minimize the risk of salmonella, plus fresh eggs will mix with the oil better. My eggs, as you probably know, come from Herbal Turtle Farms in Winona.
The only other tool you need is a blender; if you don’t have one, I suspect a food processor, stick blender, or the whisk attachment on your mixer would also work (although none of these methods have been tested–leave a note in the comments if you use something other than a blender, to let us know how it works!)
Stay tuned, next week I’ll be sharing my favorite recipe for egg salad sandwiches using this mayo!
Mayonnaise Chez Vous
(Homemade Mayonnaise Recipe)
- 1-1/2 T. lemon juice
- 1 t. Dijon-style mustard
- 1/2 t. salt
- 1 fresh, organic or pasteurized egg
- 1 cup olive oil
Combine lemon juice, mustard, salt and egg in a blender with 1/3 cup of olive oil. Cover and blend on low for 30 seconds. Remove the cover (or center section of the cover). Turn the blender to high and pour the rest of the olive oil in the blender in a continuous stream. Makes 1-1/2 cups.
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