How to Make Fermented Salad Dressings....Serving salad is a common means of adding enzymes and freshness to our meals. Surely none of us can argue with a big plate of fresh, organically grown produce!

 By Shannon Stonger

Health Impact News

Serving salad is a common means of adding enzymes and freshness to our meals. Surely none of us can argue with a big plate of fresh, organically grown produce! But, might we improve upon it by the addition of a salad dressing teeming with enzymes and probiotics?

Sadly, many commercial salad dressings are laden with inflammatory vegetable oils and are topped off with questionable sweeteners, thickeners, and pasteurized vinegars. The salad beneath might be fresh but, in these cases, the dressing certainly is not.

The synergy between dressing and salad is where the goodness happens so it pays to optimize both. A simple combination of olive oil and raw apple cider vinegar can be utilized as a throw-together option. Indeed, this will add a host of benefits including the prebiotics found in raw apple cider vinegar.

To take it a step further – and perhaps to better utilize the fermented foods you may already be making – a fermented salad dressing can be prepared. This not only adds micro- and macronutrients, it also provides you with a variety of flavors and textures to dress your salads differently every day of the week.

There are a few options for creating a salad dressing that contains live, active cultures. One utilizes a common fermented food as the vinegar aspect of a vinaigrette. One uses its creamy tang as the base of the familiar ranch dressing. The final option is to ferment a dressing base of vegetables and fruits and then use it alongside olive oil as a dressing.

 

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