Wendyl Wants to Know: Bottle gets a bit of a dressing down

These small bottles of dressing appeared a few months ago on the supermarket shelves and I liked their look.

Too often large dressing bottles are abandoned at the back of the fridge, but these one provide enough for nine servings, which is sensible for smaller households.

They are also easy to carry to work, or pop into a picnic.

I bought two. This one and the Creamy Roasted Garlic and found that one was a lot better than the other.

Edmonds Deli Style Avocado and Roasted Garlic, $3.99 for 185ml

Ingredients (in order of greatest quantity first)

Sunflower oil (antioxidant (320)
Most dressings contain oil, so it is to be expected as the biggest ingredient in this dressing. Sunflower oil is one of the better oils as it contains mostly unsaturated fats and has a lot of nutrients in it.

Water

Avocado puree (10%) Food acids (270, 300)
So there is some real avocado in here, if only 10 per cent, which equates to 18.5ml of avocado or nearly four teaspoons. The food acids that act as preservatives are lactic acid (270) which occurs naturally in sour milk and ascorbic acid (300) which is vitamin C.

White vinegar
This is another standard ingredient in a dressing, there to provide the tart flavour.

Sugar
Not a lot of sugar in here at 1.6g per 20ml serve.

Egg yolk
This will be in here for flavour.

Salt
This is quite salty at 125mg of sodium. per 20ml serving.

Roasted garlic (1%)
A tiny amount of garlic - about 1.85ml.

Buttermilk powder
This is most likely in here for flavouring.

Onion powder
Powdered onion as a flavour.

Vegetable gum (415)
This is xanthan gum which is a natural substance obtained by fermenting glucose and sucrose. It is most likely in here as an emulsifier to prevent the sunflower oil and white vinegar from separating.

Black pepper

Natural flavour (milk)
Good to see a natural flavour in here.

Colour (141)
This is chlorophyll copper complexes which provides an olive green colour.

My recommendations

There's quite a bit going on in here to make this dressing look the colour of avocado, taste like avocado and keep the consistency right.

I would recommend that instead of buying this flavour you opt for the same brand and go for the Creamy Roasted Garlic flavour. That one has no artificial flavours, colours or preservatives, whereas this can only boast no artificial flavours on its bottle. Or why not make one of my favourite dressings from the old days using just four ingredients? It's sweet but a little goes a long way in terms of flavour.

Uncooked salad dressing

• 1 x 395g tin sweetened condensed milk
• 1 cup apple cider or malt vinegar
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp mustard powder
• Salt and pepper to taste

Tip all the ingredients into a jar or jug and whisk to combine. It will thicken as it sits. Store in the fridge. Drizzle over your salad but don't overdo it.

Highlights