The Weston A. Price Way

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Home-made Mayo Oils-Fats and Skinnies of Good Fats

Some time ago, I posted a how-to article for making your own mayo. I have been happy with our results, but I'm always interested in how others go about it. When Sarah Pope, author of The Healthy Home Economist blog, posted a new article on the oils used in Mayo, I read. Sarah is a Chapter Leader for The Weston A. Price Foundation and I have followed her blog often. She is what I admirably consider to be a 'food purist' and better about non-sweets than I or my family, so I have found that I sometimes need to sweeten up her recipes by adding a bit of raw honey or maple syrup. The knowledge I gain from her teaching is very valuable...enough so that I probably should stop right here and just give you the link to the post I read that got me going on this mayo thing.
Well, it's not so much the mayo part I'm in to, it's the fat of the oils used in making home-made mayo that intrigued me...and surprised me because this is important information that has evaded me up until now.
Two years ago, I had no idea there was much difference between canola oil and lard, tallow, olive, or coconut oil, but even with the advancements in my understanding since then, I didn't realize there was a difference between the good fats in regard to weight gain.
Now, this may not be news to you, but to me, it is, so I want to share it pronto.
In a nutshell, although the fats recommended by The Weston A. Price Foundation are all good for us, the fact is, some of them are more likely to make those of us prone to weight gain, well...gain weight.
Which ones? The long-chain fatty acid ones.
Like...(sorry)...Olive Oil.
But coconut oil is a winner as is sesame oil and several others.
For those of you who, like I, may have a thyroid issue, here's another oil that's good for many, but not us...Flax. Apparently, it slipped under my 'radar' regarding goiterogenic foods. I was using it occasionally, but now plan to avoid it.
In the exciting world of good, better and best nutrition, it's easy for some things to go unnoticed or unlearned. At least, for me, that seem to be the case. So, as I come across these little jewels of information, I will try to get them posted...(Haha!...Just for those of you who may be more like me than you care to admit.)
Rather than attempt to reiterate all Sarah's teaching here, I'm going to give you her link. She's well-worth following!
If you get curious and check out her mayo recipe, do understand that most mayo's we've grown up with contain sugar. If you haven't purged yourself and your family from sweetness, or don't plan to, you may want to revise her recipe a tad by adding 1-3 Tbs. of raw honey to the mix.
Also, because I use super-fresh (back-yard) eggs, my mayo never looks white, (the picture in my post is a poor image of the real thing, color-wise.) I thought it would be less yellow, (for my family's sake, not mine), if I made it Sarah's way, rather than my usual way of using only the egg yolks. It was a little less yellow, but not much. So, I say, do it whichever way suits you regarding egg whites and yolks. Also, Sarah's recipe calls for one less egg. I have found I like this better as the end result is not as thick and more like what I grew up with as far as thickness goes.
Here's the link on oils for mayo. And here's the link to my recipe for mayo. (You'll need to scroll down the page a bit to get to the actual recipe.) It uses peanut oil and I'm not sure about the greatness of that yet, except that I did read it was 'quasi-okay' in Nourishing Traditions, and opted for that after finding we weren't real excited about the taste of olive oil in our mayo. I made a new batch of mayo today and opted to use Sunflower and Coconut Oil in equal amounts instead and my husband and I both liked the final result very much. If you read Sarah's post, you'll better understand why I chose these oils.Oh and also, whereas my recipe calls for other sweeteners, I experimented with honey today by adding about 2 Tbs, and as I said, the final outcome was a winner.
For those of you just tripping in here, the big point regarding the oils is to GET AWAY from canola and other oils touted as healthy that really aren't. You can read more about that here.

If you are interested in more sauces and dressings, Sarah gives a great video-blog for several types, including fermented ketchup and thousand island dressing. You may want to try them. When you go to her page, look to the column on the right or use her search feature.

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