Question from LM
I was going to start making my own salad dressing to be more healthy and use less artificial ingredients. However I read homemade dressings can lead to botulism? I am confused on what is safe to mix and for how long- I really don’t know anything about botulism. Why is it that store bought dressings if homemade are not safe? Are dressing mixes such as good seasonings or hidden valley safe? How long do dressings (homemade, store bought, and seasoning mix ones) last safely?
Debra’s Answer
I say, great idea to make your own salad dressings! In fact, check out my salad dressing recipes at Sweet Savvy: Condiments: Salad Dressing.
Now, about botulism, it would be highly unlikely that any salad dressing that contained an acid–such as lemon or vinegar–would cause botulism, because the acid prevents the growth of bacteria. There have been cases of unrefrigerated garlic-infused oil causing botulism, but in this case, the oil did not contain an acid.
Another problem can be mayonnaise-based dressings if they are not refrigerated. This happens when something like potato salad with mayonnaise is taken on a picnic and left out in the sun, or a mayo-based dressing is carried to lunch and left unrefrigerated.
There is no problem with making your own homemade salad dressing if you store it in the refrigerator. Personally, I make my salad dressing fresh for each salad. It only takes a few minutes and that eliminates any storage problems.
I love making salad dressing because there are so many flavors to use to make salad vegetables interesting and tasty.
So go ahead and make salad dressing with confidence!
