Homemade Mayonnaise

A long time ago, I gave up on all mayonnaise because they are (almost) ALL made with soy! Soy is toxic unless fermented for long periods of time to neutralize the toxins, so I felt that it was best to get it completely out of our diet. After a while, I realized that I MISS it a lot! So, as soon as I found a recipe for the homemade kind (found in the book Nourishing Traditions), I totally tried it!

The base recipe is kinda blah IMO. But I kept trying it. One of the best oils for getting it thick and creamy is coconut oil, but then it tastes so strongly of coconut that it no longer tastes like mayo to me. SO I decided to use organic sunflower oil. I think that Sunflower oil is just about the only oil that - while still mostly unrefined, or at least the stuff I buy is - still has very little flavor to it. It's neutral, which makes it ideal for a condiment such as mayo. If you ask me, that's why all store bought mayo has soy in it. Soy oil has been refined so much that all flavor that may have originally been in there is gone.

Anyway, the base recipe calls for 1 egg yolk, 1 whole egg, lemon juice, mustard, salt, and oil. You can also culture it with whey, but that makes it VERY strong flavored, and a person really has to like whey to like cultured mayo.

I try it a little differently every time, just to see what works best for me, and today I made a batch that is to DIE for!!!

I started with 2 whole eggs, because the whites will whip up thicker - as if you were making meringue - than the yolk alone. To that, I added a spoonful of onion powder, a half spoonful of garlic powder, a generous sprinkling of salt, a dash of pepper, and a good squirt of mustard. (I was out of lemon juice, and honestly, I like it better without!)

I mixed the ingredients in my blender until decently well blended, and mildly thick, about 30 seconds. Then, I took 3/4 cup of sunflower oil, and drizzled it into the mixture while blending it on low. The oil should take about a minute to drizzle in, and when you get to the end, you should have a thick and creamy concoction in your blender. Taste it with your finger, mmm....

Remember, homemade mayo doesn't have all the industrial crap in it to make it thicker, so it may be a bit runnier than expected. It seems to be a different consistency every time, but even runny mayo tastes good and is better for you than the thick store bought soy based stuff.

So, since I am a weirdo who likes weird stuff to eat, the better judge of taste might be my hubby, who is still half addicted to store bought convenience food. I had him taste it. When I held out the spoon, he gave me that look - the dubious one that plainly announced that he hasn't liked any of my homemade mayos so far. (He LOVES miracle whip, sigh...) I pouted just a bit, and he tasted it. His response was, "Mmm, that one turned out pretty good!"

Sighs with pride... my work here is done!