KRAFT LIGHT RANCH

The advertising slogan for this dressing is “has the taste of regular dressing!” and for once I think I’d agree. This dressing has the smell of mayonnaise with a hint of something else, possibly eggs and garlic. It is very thick and pours slowly. Don’t expect it to drip down to the lower part of your salad because it is too thick for this – you must mix it up yourself to get the salad to the bottom. I see this as a good trait of this dressing. The flavor is pleasant with no strong after-taste and is strong enough to make a difference in your salad enjoyment.

Like other so-called “light” dressing this is compared to Kraft’s regular offering and states that it has “50% less fat and 33% fewer calories than regular dressing.” This may be true but it still has 4.5 g of fat and 70 calories per serving. I have trouble with the serving size which always (I think) 2 tblsp. I don’t think I could ever just use 2 tablespoons of dressing. It always takes more than that but this is used by all dressings that I have seen. This dressing is one of the first I’ve reviewed that contains cholesterol (10 mg/3%). I guess this is due to the egg yolks in the dressing. The list of ingredients shows no surprises. It consists of water, corn syrup, soybean oil, vinegar, egg yolks, modified food starch, salt sugar and contains less than 2% of garlic juice, monosodium glutamate, phosphoric acid, xanthan gum, potassium sorbate and calcium disodium edta as preservatives, artificial color, polysorbate 60, spice ( I wonder what kind?), dried parsley, lemon juice concentrate, lactic acid (I thought that built up in your muscles during exercise?), natural flavor contains milk. This is another dressing that contains a high amount of sodium (370 mg or 15%). The label indicates that there is no nutritional value in this dressing but it does contain fats and sugars.

This dressing is a good offering in the Ranch type of dressing and if the calories, fat, and sodium content are agreeable to you then you should try this dressing. It is better than most that I have tried - especially better than the “light ranch” offerings in restaurants where the dressing just appears to be a thin, watered down version of their regular ranch dressing.


Taste Rating = 6
Overall Rating = 5
Style Category = Ranch
Fat Category = low fat
Calorie Category = medium calorie
Nutritional Category = none
Sodium Category = med high

KRAFT FREE ZESTY ITALIAN FAT FREE DRESSING

This offering from Kraft distinguishes itself by the fact that it is not just a low-fat dressing but completely fat free while retaining the flavor of a regular Italian dressing. It has the typical thinness of an oil-based dressing with the different bits of light, dark, and red particles floating in it. The smell is vinegary (as could be expected) and the taste is strong enough to cause a little pucker on the first bite. But this dressing has another factor that makes it a reason to choose it and that is because it is low calorie along with being fat free. It only has 16 calories per serving which is the normal 2 tablespoons.

The list of ingredients contains mostly the expected ones such as water, vinegar as the largest percentage but then adds high fructose corn syrup which is not always present. After these comes salt and then less than 2% of the following ingredients; dried garlic, soybean oil (this is new also), garlic, modified food starch, xanthan gum, dried onions, dried red peppers, spice , yellow 5, yellow 6 (what are these?), potassium sorbate and calcium disodium EDTA as preservatives. It offers very little in the way of nutrition, however, but it does have a couple of drawbacks; first, it contains 2gs of sugar (which is not terrible) but second, it contains a whopping 480 mg of sodium or 20% of the daily recommended value. This alone lowers the overall rating one point on my scale, but may make little difference if sodium is not a problem for you.

This dressing is a good choice if your preference leans toward an Italian style dressing. It has a lot going for it – mainly the fact that it is fat free and low calorie. It has a full-bodied taste and typical texture and appearance. The only drawback I find is the large amount of sodium in it and a small after-taste which is not especially pleasant but not too bad either.

Taste Rating = 5
Overall Rating = 4
Style Category = Italian
Fat Category = fat free
Calorie Category = low calorie
Nutritional Category = none
Sodium Category = high

Wishbone Balsamic Breeze Vinaigrette Spritzer

I just had to see for myself whether or not the “Spritzer” dressings were a rip-off or not. The ads and statistics seemed pretty good: “only 1 calorie per spray” (or 10 calories per salad). You would think that if they allow 10 sprays per salad that it would be enough dressing and this would qualify in the “very good” category as far as calories go. The fat, total carbs, and sodium were very good in (1 g, 1g, 130 mg respectively but the bottle seemed awful small for the money but they did also advertise that this small bottle would “Dress more salads than a 16 oz. bottle”. I waited until someone else in my office bought a bottle and then I decided to try it.

Of course it was obvious that the dressing would have to be thin and without chunks in order for it to pass through a spray nozzle. I began by using the recommended 10 sprays. (Caution: it comes out pretty hard and can splash out of your salad onto whatever is on the table with it.). Then I smelled it and it smelled OK and typical of a balsamic-based vinaigrette. I then took a bite and couldn’t taste much of anything. I took a few more bites and found the same thing. My salad seemed dry so I did 10 more spritzes. That was a little better and I could finally taste it. I then ate the top layer of my salad. The taste was good but after I got past the top layer I needed more spritzes to keep my salad from being dry. So I gave it 10 more spritzes and mixed my salad all together. That allowed me to eat most of my salad but by the time I reached the bottom I wanted to add more dressing.

The taste of the dressing was good and I suspect it is just their regular balsamic dressing put in a spray bottle. I like the balsamic taste and often use it in cooking and this had a good taste by itself and, not surprisingly, it was the largest ingredient after water. I have no complaints about the taste except it is a little weak but I just think the packaging is misleading. I don’t think anyone could get by with just 10 sprays of this dressing. My guess it this is probably about 2 teaspoons of dressing. If you could stick with this amount then it would only add about 10 calories to your dressing however, I don’t think anyone could stick to this on a salad larger than a cup.

Taste Rating = 6 bottles
Overall Rating = 5 bottles
Style Category = Vinaigrette
Fat Category = low fat
Calorie Category = low calorie
Nutritional Category = none
Sodium Category = low

Kraft Free Roka Blue Cheese Flavored Dressing

Personally I have not tried too many Blue Cheese dressing until now. Most of the time they have too many calories and too much fat so I have stayed away from them even though I love Blue Cheese. After trying this one I think I need to sample some of the other brands, not because this one is bad but just the opposite. This one is not really low on calories or carbs but it is not too bad.

Note, this one is called “Blue Cheese Flavored” and I guess that they do this because the tasted must not be caused by the tiny amount of blue cheese in the dressing. It is very near the bottom on the list of ingredients. Still, I think it is a pretty good imitation of blue cheese.

This dressing has the traditional smell of other blue cheese dressings and the taste compares favorably to non-fat free dressings. It is not too tangy but has a bit of a “salty” taste if you taste it away from any other food. I would like this more if it were lower in sodium because it is high with 350 mg and carbs (11g) but if nothing else I am now going to be looking for more blue cheese dressings to compare it to.

Taste Rating = 6 bottles
Overall Rating = 5 bottles
Style Category = Blue Cheese
Fat Category = fat free
Calorie Category = med calorie
Nutritional Category = little except Vitamin E (8%)
Sodium Category = med-high

Wishbone Light Asian with Sesame & Ginger Vinaigrette

This dressing from Wishbone is billed as “Delicately Sweet & Tangy” and I think this one does resemble the moniker. When you first taste this dressing you automatically think “Chinese food” which is most likely because of the combination of ginger and soy sauce which is linked to Chinese dishes. This dressing does contain both of them. My first impression notices the “tangy” more than the “sweet” but if you concentrate you do notice the sweet taste but it is not too obvious. The “tangy” is not overpowering but a pleasant and unique taste and the smell is similar. The appearance is a little different as well; medium brown with light colored particle suspended in it. Many of the particles appear to be sesame seeds.


The calories in this dressing are a little higher than some (70) as is fat calories (45) but is in line with other “light” dressings. Carbs and sugars are in the med range at 6g and 5g respectively. serving size in order to be able to taste the dressing. The ingredient list is pretty much on par with the other but does include a few differences. In addition to the soy sauce and ginger it does contain vinegar from rice wine (distilled), sesame oil and orange juice concentrate.

This dressing is definitely a change-of-pace in a dressing. I don’t see it as being an “every day” type of dressing but only an occasional choice. Since it does have a “Chinese food” taste and since I only want that every now-and-then I wouldn’t want it too soon after eating Chinese food and if you don’t’ like that taste then you probably won’t like this dressing either. I found it to be a refreshing taste after some of the blander tasting dressings.

Taste Rating = 7 bottles
Overall Rating = 6 bottles
Style Category = Vinaigrette
Fat Category = med fat
Calorie Category = med calorie
Nutritional Category = none
Sodium Category = med

NEWMAN’S OWN LIGHT HONEY MUSTARD

In my book this is the “gold standard” by which all other salad dressings are judged. This has been my favorite dressing since the first time I tasted it around 2 years ago. I have eaten it, on the average, of three times a week since then and I’m still not tired of it. I, for one, am amazed by this. I can’t imagine eating anything else that frequently and not being ready to gag if I had to eat it again.

The smell is not very strong upon sniffing the open bottle. It is slightly reminiscent of Dijon mustard although that is not one of the ingredients in it but it does list “Creole mustard” as one. The taste, however, is very strong for a “light” dressing. The first taste every time causes me to pucker just a little bit because of the tartness of it. The taste does not get weaker but stays just a strong throughout the salad but you kind of get used to this tartness. This dressing is fairly thick and has small bits of something dark in it that I can’t identify by reading the ingredients on the label. It looks something like small brown seeds. It could be mustard seeds but the label states that it only contains “ground mustard seed”.

The statistics on the label compares it to regular honey mustard dressing. It states that it has “60% Less Fat and 45% Fewer Calories than Regular Honey Mustard Dressing”. It is not extremely low-fat (4 grams vs. 11 grams) and not extremely low calorie (70 calories vs. 126 calories) or sugar-free (5 grams). The list of ingredients does not contain many surprises; water, Creole mustard (ground mustard seed, distilled vinegar, salt), cider vinegar, sugar, vegetable oil (soybean oil and/or canola oil), maltodextrin, hone, contains 2% or less of : salt, buttermilk solids (milk), spice, xanthan gum, lemon juice concentrate, dried onion, dried garlic. It also has an expiration date on the bottle and I guess this helps to insure freshness but I wouldn’t think it would spoil or get weaker while sealed in the bottle.

As I stated earlier – this is my favorite dressing and until I find a lower-calorie offering with as much taste I’m going to stick with this. As a bonus their web site tell us that “Newman's Own, Inc. makes no gift to charity, but Paul Newman, who receives all the profits and royalties from Newman's Own, Inc., distributes all of that personally to the charities of his choice. Since the inception of the company, it is our understanding that the total amount of those gifts to charity has been approximately $200 million.”

Rating = 9

Style Category = Honey Mustard
Fat Category = fat free
Calorie Category = low calorie
Nutritional Category = none
Sodium Category = high

WALDEN FARMS HONEY DIJON VINAIGRETTE DRESSING

Zero calories, zero fat, zero sugar…. Sounds like a dream come true, doesn’t it? How bad could it be? With no bad stuff in it I thought it would be possible to just drink it like water and pour as much on your salad as you liked. Anyone conscious of their weight or health would have to pay attention to this dressing. With much anticipation I tried this Honey Dijon Vinaigrette from Walden Farms.

I smelled the open bottle first. The smell was reminiscent of eggs and mayonnaise (notice I said “reminiscent” since neither is contained in this dressing). My first taste was from sticking my finger in the bottle and putting it to my lips. Not too bad I thought; very weak but not offensive. I tried it on a tossed salad and when I got through eating I thought – what was the use of that? This is pretty much the conclusion I came to – why bother? The dressing is creamy, but it is watery and thin. You get finished eating it and can’t remember what you were eating. There is almost no taste at all. There is no after-taste and that is good but that’s about the best you can say about it. I keep going back to try it again by tasting the dressing alone and get the same impression- there is a hint (just a hint) of Dijon mustard but that is all. It is so weak the taste is overwhelmed by a bland lettuce like iceberg. It keeps your salad from being dry but that is about all.


The list of ingredients should clue you in to the taste of this dressing: “Purified Triple Filtered Water” is the main ingredient followed by apple cider vinegar, white vinegar, Dijon mustard, cellulose gel, onion, garlic, beta carotene, xanthan gum, propylene glycol alginate, sodium benzoate, food color and sucralose. Not too much to object to here. Don’t expect to get many vitamins or minerals from the dressing either because there are none supplied in this product. Their Web site is not informative; it is mainly a shopping site where you can order salad dressing and other of their products. It took me a few clicks to actually find any information about the dressings other than a couple of videos from a television show in Houston. When I clicked on “More Information” I was just taken to another page that produced the same PR rhetoric that is displayed on the bottle and no new data.

I used this dressing on my salads for several lunches. I applaud Walden Farms for producing dressings that contain no calories, fat, or sugars and I don’t want to be too hard on them. They sell several other dressings and I can only hope that their taste is bolder than this one. I am anxious to try the different flavors but for now I’m not in any hurry to use the Honey Dijon Vinaigrette again.

Taste Rating = 3 bottles
Overall Rating = 3 bottles
Style Category = Honey Mustard
Fat Category = fat free
Calorie Category = no calorie
Nutritional Category = none
Sodium Category = med