Marvelous Mayo

If there is one food I really love, it's mayo. It is so yummy and creamy good. Rich and satisfying. Heaven on the tongue.

Well, I thought I knew mayo. I always bought the big jar of PC brand real mayo, $4.99 for 1.5 liters was a pretty good deal. It would last a while, not long enough IMO, but it certainly was cheaper than the others. Hellmans was my favorite, but it never went on sale. When it did go on sale, it was still too expensive to stock up on.


Well, as I became more familiar with food and concerned about what it contains, I noticed that store bought mayo almost always contains oils and other ingredients that I wasn't happy eating (not that I am the most diligent about what I eat). When you are eating low carb and/or in a Nourishing Traditions way, you know that you need healthy fats. They are good for you, satisfying and nourishing. Here is a link about fats if you want some more information, but I will probably talk more on this on another day: http://www.westonaprice.org/knowyourfats/index.html

My first batch of mayo was a disaster. I tried to make olive oil mayo in the blender. It was *terrible*!! Ugh! I later found out that olive oil does not stand up well to being in the blender, that it needs to be treated more gently. I don't know if it's true but it seemed to make sense. My second batch was with a set of hand beaters using all olive oil.

Now I used to really hate olive oil. I think it was because I had a bad bottle once and it turned me off. Plus for some people it is bit of an acquired taste.

So my second batch was very green but it tasted decent, very strong of olive oil, but edible. Since then I have used other oils in conjunction to the olive oil to off set the taste. We have some canola oil, which I'm not crazy about but need to use it up (from our food storage and oil doesn't last forever; can't afford to just dump 6L of oil). I recently bought some peanut oil. Some people aren't crazy about peanut oil in mayo but I thought it was lovely! It was a combination of half a cup of olive oil, 3/4 cup peanut oil and a little canola drizzled in until it reached desired consistency. I used garlic and sea salt for the seasoning with a little apple cider vinegar as the acid. This is my best batch yet! The picture at the top is from this (I need better lighting in my kitchen! It is so hard to take decent pictures as we get no natural light and have all energy saver bulbs).

So how do you make mayo? It is much easier than I ever thought. I wish I had of tried it earlier instead of being intimidated.

• 1 egg yolk
  
• 1 tsp mustard powder (or other seasonings. Personalize your mayo with your favorite flavors!)
• 1 tbsp lemon juice or vinegar (or a mix of both)
• fine sea salt to taste
  
• freshly ground black pepper to taste
  
• 1 cup desired oil (plus more to reach desired consistency)
• 1-2 tbsp boiling water

Beat yolk until creamy then add in seasonings and lemon juice/vinegar. Beat well. Start adding in your oil slowly. I drizzle it in with a spoon. As it starts mixing in easier, I drizzle it from the cup in a slow steady stream. I usually get about 1.25 cups of oil in it and could probably add a little more. After you have finished adding the oil, blend in the boiling water which will result in a creamy consistency. Enjoy!