Image Courtesy of JB’s Warehouse and Curio Emporium<\/p><\/div>\n

Salad dressing was a homemade condiment until Kraft entered the salad dressing game in 1925 with bottled French Dressing.\u00a0 In the 1950s and 60s, Ranch dressing was the most popular and Hidden Valley Ranch dressing was invented at a dude ranch in California.\u00a0 Most people can identify the taste of the Hidden Valley Ranch brand even today.<\/p>\n

Though we are becoming less enamored of the convenience of prepared and processed foods, the influence of the 50s and 60s has lasted well into this new millennium.\u00a0 There are people who are fairly health conscious, decent cooks that use bottled salad dressing.\u00a0 It just doesn’t occur to them to make it, they think it will take too much time and effort, or they don’t trust themselves to create a dressing that they want to eat on their salad.\u00a0 If this is you, read on and be brave.\u00a0 Oh and make sure you get your hands on some really fresh greens.<\/p>\n

Other than fish, greens are probably the most sensitive fresh food.\u00a0 It’s not that you can’t make them last in the refrigerator, it’s that they quickly lose their flavor, crispness and texture.\u00a0 If you shop for lettuce and greens at your local grocery store, you are probably buying a product that has been shipped from California.\u00a0 At best, it was harvested days ago.\u00a0 This is the lettuce we are all used to, so we don’t worry about the freshness unless the greens are actually discolored or limp.\u00a0 We don’t know how great salad tastes until we’ve had it with the freshest greens, so many people do not enjoy salad.\u00a0 The dressing is needed to cover the flavor and tempt them into eating something that is “good” for them.<\/p>\n

The too-strong flavors of commercial salad dressings were formulated to cover up the blandness of iceberg lettuce, to cover the bitter, wilted flavor of greens that are well-past their prime, or to convince people to eat “healthier”.\u00a0 In many bottled dressings you can expect a high sodium content and plenty of preservatives.\u00a0 There is also a chemical, plastic flavor and a strangely shiny thick consistency to bottled dressings.\u00a0 For some reason I am tempted from time to time to purchase that creamy blue cheese dressing in the produce section of the grocery store.\u00a0 It’s refrigerated and just seems like it would be fresh since it’s in the produce section.\u00a0 I am always disappointed by the salty, bitter, oddly sweet “flavor” that is common to all store-bought dressings.\u00a0 Must be the xanthan gum.<\/p>\n

Another reason people think they don’t like salad is that they tend to use too much dressing on the salad because they have washed the greens, the greens are wet, and the salad dressing doesn’t coat the greens the way they want it to unless it is over-dressed.\u00a0 And the dressing just doesn’t taste that great.\u00a0 Using a salad-spinner is necessary to make a really delicious salad.\u00a0 By drying out the leaves you can use less dressing and taste the greens as well as the dressing.\u00a0 Not only does fresh local lettuce taste great, but you can make a really simple dressing at home and it will be the best salad you ever had.\u00a0 It’s really worth a trip to the Farmer’s Market.\u00a0 Or, if you are at all inclined to garden, salad greens are also quite easy to grow – what could be fresher than the greens you picked in your own back yard today?<\/p>\n