Friday, February 11, 2011

Homemade Mayonnaise and Homemade Whey (sugar free • gluten free • low carb • dairy free • gaps)

I wish I had figured out how to make homemade mayonnaise a long time ago. I started fooling around with it a couple of months ago after I finally gave up and realized that you just can’t buy commercial ranch dressing or mayo without it having soybean oil as the number one ingredient in most of them!! The ones I did find, had some other ingredients I didn’t want either. Now that I know how easy it is, I will never go back!

I tried a few recipes I found online, but wasn’t too impressed with the results. Then after I received my copy of the book Nourishing Traditions, I tried out the recipe in there. It was perfect for me as is, and I have had great results every time. I make a double batch at a time and use it as a base for other things as well, like ranch dressing and tarter sauce which have turned out really good too using this mayo. You can make all kinds of things with it. I also make whey, so the mayo will keep for several months. If you don’t use whey, it will last for about 2 weeks. I’ll tell you how to make whey at the end, it’s really easy too!

I gather all my ingredients, leaving out the oil, and put them in my Ninja. You should be able to use any food processor, but the ninja works really good. I may or may not rave about the ninja alot... but I seriously use it almost every day for all sorts of things. It has replaced a few other kitchen gadgets and works great for all kinds of things. It’s my favorite kitchen appliance by far. You can whip up guac in minutes or lots of other dips. I make smoothies, sauces.... I could go on and on.... oh how I love my ninja...

Also, alot of people put their ingredients in a smaller container and use an immersion blender, which supposedly works really well too. I’ve never tried it though, because I like making a double batch so I need more room to mix it up.



When making your own mayo, you HAVE to use good quality pastured eggs. These are going in your mayo raw and you will be eating it raw. It’s not safe to consume otherwise. If you can find a local farmer, then great (I can’t get any more till March), but there is one brand around my house, Vital Farms, that they sell at Whole Foods that is real pastured eggs. Plus I just love this company. They have taken good old fashioned egg producing to a large scale level without compromising their hens or food safety and making really good eggs available to more people in less rural areas. I think that’s awesome! Plus you can see and taste the difference. The yolks are so deep colored and vibrant. I only use these eggs for making mayonnaise or anything where they will be eaten raw, and for breakfast. I use regular organic, cage free eggs that I buy from costco for all of my other baking and cooking. I go through way too many eggs. The pastured eggs are more expensive and I am on a budget!



I blend all of the ingredients (aside from the oil) in the ninja till really well mixed up. Then, while the ninja is running, I flip open the little spout lid and I SLOWLY add in my sunflower oil with a dropper. The recipe calls for olive oil or sunflower or a combination of both. I actually used 3/4 C sunflower oil and 1/4 C olive oil. I have tried it with straight olive oil and the taste was way too strong for me. Joe wouldn’t even eat it. He was then upset there wasn’t any Hidden Valley in the house and said I ruined his salads! He has been much happier since I started using more of the sunflower oil. You have to add it really really slowly or it won’t stay together when you are done. I start out one drip at a time, then can start adding it faster as I go. This is what it looks like when I am all done.




Here’s the original recipe from Nourishing Traditions

Homemade Mayonnaise

  • 1 whole egg, at room temperature
  • 1 egg yolk, at room temperature
  • 1 teaspoon Dijon-type mustard (click her for GAPS friendly recipe)
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice
  • 1 tablespoon whey, optional
  • 3/4 to 1 cup extra virgin olive oil or expeller pressed sunflower oil or a combination (I use 3/4 C sunflower oil and 1/4 C olive oil)
  • generous pinch Sea Salt
Homemade mayonnaise imparts valuable enzymes, particularly lipase, to sandwiches, tuna salad, chicken salads and many other dishes and is very easy to make in a food processor. The addition of whey will help your mayonnaise last longer, adds enzymes and increases nutrient content. Use sunflower oil if you find that olive oil gives too strong a taste. Homemade mayonnaise will be slightly more liquid than sore-bought versions.

In your food processor, place egg, egg yolk, mustard, salt, honey and lemon juice and optional whey. Process until well blended, about 30 seconds. Using the attachment that allows you to add liquids drop by drop, add olive oil and/or sunflower oil with the motor running. Taste and check seasoning. You may want to add more salt and lemon juice. If you have added whey, let the mayonnaise sit at room temperature, well covered, for 7 hours before refrigerating. With whey added, mayonnaise will keep several months and will become firmer with time. Without whey, mayonnaise will keep for about 2 weeks.

So there ya have it!!

And what do you do with those leftover egg whites? I put them individually in ice trays in the freezer and use them for other recipes that call for egg whites.

Homemade Whey

There are a few different ways to make whey. I have only made mine one way, so I will share that with you. I start with some really good whole milk yogurt. Look at the ingredients, try to find one with nothing in it except milk and cream. Even if it's organic, they still sometimes put some funky stuff in there. I use the Kalona Super Natural Brand whole milk yogurt (5%!). Its so good in smoothies too!

Speaking of the Kalona Super Natural Brand, if you can get your hands on their whole milk cottage cheese... wow! I was never a freak about cottage cheese until I had this stuff.

I bought some cheese cloth from Bed, Bath and Beyond. I dumped my yogurt into the cheese cloth and hung it above a bowl. I tie it to my wine glass rack under my kitchen cabinet. You could tie it to the handle of your kitchen cabinet door too. Mine don’t have any handles. It hangs there for about 24 hrs while all of the whey drips out of it into the bowl. Then I store the whey in a mason jar in the fridge for several months. I use it in my mayo, but I also add it to smoothies and other foods to add more nutritional value. You can also use it to make lots of other condiments to not only preserve their shelf life, but add nutrition. What’s left in the cheesecloth is cream cheese! You can use it however you want. I recently made an amazing cheese ball with it and took it to a party for an appetizer.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Just Curious as to how much eating like this costs you and your family. My son is diabetic and I have to shop carefully for him and just shopping for him alone has raised our monthly grocery budget astronomically. It seems as if every single item you buy is from a natural food store or online at some whole foods website. This has to be a budget killer. Just curious as I would love to eat that way, I just dont make 200k a year

Laura said...

I completely understand where you are coming from We are actually on a pretty tight budget ourselves. I sacrifice other things to make up the difference when needed. I buy alot of things second hand, for example. You also have to understand that we never eat out anymore and that savings from that helps to offset the price. And nothing is ever thrown away. I have leftovers alot as well too. When I make mayo, it lasts for a long time in the fridge and it isn't something I am buying the ingredients for and making every day. But I also factor in the money that we are saving in the long wrong for less medical bills for health issues from a poor diet. Food is medicine as well, and to me eating healthy is worth every penny I spend on it.

Laura said...

And with my husband's and my income combined we are still no where near 200k a year (not even close!).

Sarah Smith said...

Apparently you and I are on the same wavelength since I posted a mayo recipe this week too (also from Nourishing Traditions). Ha! I mostly just wanted to be able to link to it so I could post recipes for tartar sauce, salad dressing, etc.

Lisa said...

I am so excited about this post! I make my own ranch dressing and use mayo for sandwiches quite a bit (tuna, chicken salad, etc.), but I've been stuck with using Kraft or Best Foods (Hellman's) and cringe every single time due to the soybean oil. I did try to make my own recently, but it was so nasty I had to dump it down the drain. That said, I'm going to have to give the NT recipe a try!
Thanks for sharing. :)

PS: Found you through a comment you left on my blog (Happy in Dole Valley). Blessings!

MandyW said...

For those of you looking for a mild tasting oil to make your mayonnaise, try coconut oil. A good mix is either half oil/half coconut, or even less olive oil ratio for a milder taste. Use of whey not only preserves the mayo longer, but keeps it from becoming hard in the frig (coconut oil doesn't liquefy until 70+ degrees). Also, the health benefits of coconut oil are well documented. See Tropical Traditions website for more info.

Laura said...

My current mayo recipe actually does use half coconut oil and half olive oil (see my recipes section). I only make it this way now and definitely prefer it for a milder, healthier option. I still find that it gets harder in the fridge, but it softens quickly after sitting on the counter for just a little bit before eating it. Whey actually thickens the mayo, so I don't think that would make much difference in keeping it from getting hard.

Aneah said...

Do you know why the whey makes it last longer exactly? I am planning on trying this and have been doing research, and while I find recipes for mayo with whey saying it makes it last longer, no one seems to say exactly why.
Thanks!

Aneah said...

Do you know why exactly the whey makes it last longer? I've been researching mayo recipes and haven't seen on yet that explains why the whey acts like a natural preservative.
Thanks!

Laura said...

Hi Aneah, I am no scientist, but the whey provides a digestive bacteria that helps to keep things in balance and safe for consumption. It also provides lots of extra minerals and nutrition making the mayo even healthier then it would be without. Whey is used in the fermentation process of many different foods and has been for hundreds of years.