I started with a bowl of crisp, fresh lettuce. I added tomatoes, cucumbers, shredded cabbage and a sprinkling of crumbled feta. Now all my salad needed was some dressing. So I dumped on a few spoons of sugar and some water. No, wait -- that's not right! But if you read the ingredients on many bottled salad dressings, you'll find out that sugar and water feature prominently. In fact, it's so common that one brand proudly mentions "no sugar" on the package.
I'm not just talking about inexpensive mass-market brands that you might expect to be loaded with junk, either. I have often chosen Newman's Own dressings in the belief they were more wholesome than many competing products. Perhaps that's true, but they're not free of water and sugar; these are ingredients number two and five in Newman's Own Balsamic Vinaigrette. And their Creamy Balsamic variety has 7 grams of sugar per two-tablespoon serving. I guess "creamy" means "sweet."
I don't mean to single out Newman's Own. The bottle of Marzetti Olive Oil and Vinegar Vinaigrette in my fridge also contains water and sugar. Even the Cindy's Kitchen Lemon and Shallot Vinaigrette I picked up at Whole Foods for a pricey $5.99 contains honey, and water is its first ingredient.
I don't really know why commercial salad dressings contain water, but I'm going to guess. First, water is cheap. Second, replacing oil with water reduces the fat content, which might appeal to people who are shopping based on the number of fat grams listed on the nutrition facts label. Finally, I'm going to charitably assume that the acidity of vinegar may vary from batch to batch, and manufacturers may be obliged to add water to bring the acidity to desired (or perhaps even government-mandated) levels.
I don't really know why commercial salad dressings contain sugar, either, but anyone who has read Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us can probably come up with a good guess. Sugar tastes good and makes certain mass-production cooking techniques easier.
If you don't want water and sugar in your salad dressing, here's a simple alternative. To a large individual serving of salad, add:
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 Tbsp of your favorite vinegar or lemon juice
- Salt and fresh-ground pepper to taste
- Onion powder and dried oregano to taste
Toss and enjoy.
Because if it contains sugar water, it's not salad dressing, it's salad soda!
