You Need to Make Fermented Mayonnaise
This may be the oddest recipe I've ever made and it's awesome. Learn why avoiding toxic seed oils is crucial for your health and why you'd be crazy not to make fermented mayonnaise.
I just saw bacon made out of beef. I was not sold on the idea. It looked like bacon strips, but I didn’t think it could be anything like eating actual bacon. And who wants to expect bacon and not get it? Faux-bacon seemed a sadistic invention that would accomplish nothing but cause people to feel disappointed while eating a good steak. It seemed sacrilege to do something so bad to a perfectly decent cut of beef; to relegate it to the same sad category as an imposter veggie burger. Imagine my surprise when I tasted it and discovered it was…good. What? How is this possible? It’s amazing what the right spices can accomplish. Sliced thin and cooked crispy, it was pretty darn close to bacon.
I haven’t forgotten that I’m supposed to be telling you about making mayonnaise. It’s just that making mayo, especially fermented mayo at that, often sounds too “out there” to many people. It’s so far beyond the realm of normal consideration, it’s dismissed as quickly as I judged the beef bacon. Why should one bother with a homemade, hippy fermented condiment when every store has shelves full of the stuff? So glad you asked. In a nutshell, it tastes amazing and it’s not toxic. Maybe I should have led with the not poisonous part.
You’ve probably heard about “seed oils” by now, and that they are not healthy, to say the least. Cotton seed oil has been around since the early1800s. It may seem odd that it’s been around so long, since Great Grandma used to only cook with fats that are naturally found in nature, such as butter and animal fats. Why didn’t she use canola, sunflower, corn or cotton seed oil? Because back then it was rightly considered toxic waste, and used as a fuel source and machine lubricant. That is, until P&G used cotton seed oil to create Crisco, paid for a few studies to claim it was healthy, and hired an expensive marketing agency which ran ads nonstop to convince women that natural fats were bad, and the engine lubricant was healthy.
So what’s the big deal, aren’t seeds and corn good for you? Hmm. Cotton seeds are so toxic that it was illegal to dump them near rivers. The main poison, gossypol, caused severe damage to wildlife and livestock. Aside from the chemicals and solvents used in the highly processed method of extraction, seed oils are often rancid, oxidized and very high in omega 6 fatty acids due to the high linoleic acid content. When we have too many omega 6s as a ratio with omega 3s, it causes inflammation, diabetes, alzheimers, heart disease and cancer, to name a few.1
But WAIT, you say, seeds and corn naturally contain linoleic acid, and they are fine to eat! It’s true we need some omega 6s in our diet.2 The trouble is most Americans have way too much compared with omega 3s. It’s the dose that makes the poison. 5 Tbsp of corn oil takes 98 ears of corn to make. The same amount of sunflower seed oil takes 2,800 sunflower seeds. Why then does the FDA allow seed oils to be sold? Because seed oils were invented at a time of minimal regulation, and so now are allowed under the GRAS designation. (Generally Regarded As Safe) Does that mean they are safe? No. But because seed oils have been used for so many decades, they qualify as GRAS and are allowed without any required premarket approval.
Anyway back to the mayo. It’s not that homemade mayonnaise especially needs to be fermented, in fact the majority of recipes you’ll find are not fermented. However, a non-fermented mayo will only keep in the fridge for 4-5 days, while the fermented version will be good for 2+ months. I like it because it’s lazy mayo.
You might wonder if fermented mayo tastes weird. “I don’t want to eat kimchi or pickle flavored mayo!” Absolutely not. It tastes like the best mayo I’ve ever had. No strange flavors, no bizarre consistency, no preservatives, and no seed oils.
What about the avocado oil? Not only is it a non-seed oil3, it contains healthy fats and has even reach prescription drug status in France.4 One study found that it reduced two markers for inflammation.5 However, use caution in choosing the best avocado oil, as many have been found to be unhealthy in other ways, such as containing pesticides or phthalates. The best avocado oils are organic and cold pressed.6
Fermented Mayonnaise
Adapted from Homesteading Family
Ingredients:
1 egg (high quality, fresh)
1 tsp dijon mustard
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp lemon juice
1 clove garlic
1 tsp fresh or dried herbs (optional)
2 Tbsp brine from a ferment (kombucha, sauerkraut, whey from plain yogurt, etc)
1 1/4 cups avocado oil
Directions:
Add all ingredients into a quart sized mason jar, adding the avocado oil last so it settles on top.
Place your immersion blender down to the bottom of the jar. (Keep it vertical, do not angle.) Blend until the mixture turns white.
Slowly bring the blender up and down a few times to ensure the ingredients are completely emulsified. Taste and adjust seasonings if needed.
Cover the jar and leave it out on the counter for 6-10 hours to ferment. Then store it in the fridge.
If you manage not to eat it all the first week, it will keep in the fridge for 2+ months. After that point, use your senses; aka the sniff test and checking visually for signs of spoilage.
1 https://health.clevelandclinic.org/seed-oils-are-they-actually-toxic
2 https://draxe.com/nutrition/linoleic-acid/
3 https://www.chefsresource.com/is-avocado-oil-processed/
4 https://draxe.com/nutrition/avocado-oil/
5 https://www.mdpi.com/1420-3049/24/11/2172
6 https://www.mamavation.com/food/avocado-oils-tested-for-phthalates-buying-guide.html#Best_Avocado_Oils_with_Least_Contamination
