WALDEN FARMS ITALIAN DRESSING

I keep trying the Fat Free/Sugar Free/Calorie Free dressings from Walden Farms and continue to be disappointed. I guess the only reason I keep trying is that I would love to find one that I liked that I could use in a quantity more than the recommended quantity of normal dressings without worrying about the bad stuff. This dressing is not as weak as many of the Walden Farms dressings are but my opinion about the taste is not favorable.

To begin with the smell is not exactly pleasant. It is vinegary but with another smell that I can’t quite place my finger on. I guess it is the combination of garlic, onion, oregano, and red bell peppers. Normally I would like this combination but with this dressing it misses the mark. The taste is not even reminiscent of Italian dressing. I taste this one and just think “yuk” and this continues throughout the entire salad. By the time I reach the bottom I can’t wait to get finished with it. It has a “pucker” that many times I find pleasant because it means there is some taste that is tart and interesting but the “pucker” with this one just means I can’t stand it.

The only thing this dressing has going for it is the lack of sugar, fat, and calories. It has a deeper yellow color than most Italian dressings and the sodium falls in the medium range. I’m about ready to stop reviewing the Walden Farms dressings but I still have a few left to do. In the meantime I’m still hoping for one that I can use frequently without gagging. This one is not quite as bad as the Creamy Bacon dressing but not much.

Taste Rating = 1 bottles
Overall Rating = 2 bottles
Style Category = Italian
Fat Category = none
Calorie Category = none
Nutritional Category = none
Sodium Category = med

WALDEN FARMS ITALIAN SUN DRIED TOMATO DRESSING

Finally a Zero-Calorie, Fat-free, Sugar-free dressing that is not too bad. This is a second Italian style dressing from Walden Farms and is totally different than the first one – in appearance and taste. This one is a dark brown color that is so dark that you cannot see through it. It does have the characteristic suspended particles. This dressing reminds me more of a balsamic vinegar dressing than a normal Italian one.

This dressing seems to have a little more “content” or complexity than most of the other dressings from Walden Farms. This is confirmed by looking at the label where there are a couple more ingredients than some of the other dressings. It does have balsamic vinegar, sun dried tomatoes, and red bell peppers in addition to all of the other normal ingredients. All this said – the dressing is still not that good – it is just not too bad. It is not as sweet as many of the other dressings and after using it for several days I don’t cringe at the smell of this dressing like I do for several other Walden Farms dressings. I am getting very tired of their products and will not be in a hurry to try any new products from them. I have also tried their BBQ sauce, ketsup, cocktail sauce and cannot stomach another bite of them but this dressing won’t be a favorite but not one that I would avoid using again.

Taste Rating = 3 bottles
Overall Rating = 3 bottles
Style Category = Italian
Fat Category = zero
Calorie Category = zero
Nutritional Category = none
Sodium Category = med

WALDEN FARMS CREAMY BACON DRESSING

This is another calorie-free/fat-free/sugar-free offering from Walden Farms. I have tried several others and found them lacking in taste just because of the lack of intensity. That is not true of this dressing. From the minute you open this bottle you never have to guess what it is. It has an overpowering bacon smell and taste.

I think people as a whole love the taste and smell of bacon. If you put out a survey I believe the smell of bacon cooking in the morning would be ranked in the top 10 in the list of favorite smells and that would include me. This is the first dressing I have seen that has a label on it saying “heat and serve”. I guess they are trying to play into this opinion on favorite smells. However, after smelling this dressing I might have to revise my list. It is hard to explain but this dressing smells and tastes too much like bacon. I have not tried heating it up but a colleague did and the air in the office took several hours to clear. In fact, when I went home in the evening I thought I could still smell it and it was not pleasant.

You might ask “how could the smell of bacon be bad?” and that is a legitimate question. Prior to using this dressing I would have asked the same question but now I know. This dressing doesn’t actually have any real bacon in it, only imitation bacon bits and it is pretty far down the list of ingredients so I don’t know how they came up with this smell and taste. It is just too strong. I think with nearly all other dressings I think I can always use them as a marinade or a seasoning in cooking but that will never happen with this dressing.



Taste Rating = 1 bottles
Overall Rating = 2 bottles
Style Category = Misc
Fat Category = fat free
Calorie Category = no calorie
Nutritional Category = none
Sodium Category = low

WALDEN FARMS BALSAMIC VINAIGRETTE DRESSING

This dressing is another one from Walden Farms that unfortunately is not zero calories/zero fat. At first all the dressing from Walden Farm appeared to be zero/zero but now I’m finding more and more that are not. This one, however, is Sugar Free. I would categorize as normal in many ways and does have a little more taste than most of the rest of the WF dressings. The smell is weak and to me, does not even have the smell of balsamic vinegar although it is listed in the ingredients.

The nutrition facts on the label show that this dressing is not too bad for you. It has no saturated fat or trans fat and only 4g of fat overall. It also has no carbs, cholesterol or sugar but it does contain 40 calories per serving and 35 of these calories coming from fat. But I still can’t figure out why Walden Farms can’t seem to make a dressing with much taste. The only one that does (that I have tried) is the Creamy Bacon Dressing and unfortunately the taste is has is not good. This Balsamic dressing is not offensive and definitely not overpowering but you still have to work to find much taste at all. It does have the characteristic look and color of other balsamic vinaigrettes but little of the taste. It is not good but also it is not bad – just “blah”.

Taste Rating = 3 bottles
Overall Rating = 3 bottles
Style Category = Vinaigrette
Fat Category = low
Calorie Category = low
Nutritional Category = none
Sodium Category = med

WALDEN FARMS CAESAR DRESSING

This is another offering by Walden Farms in their line-up of zero calories, zero sugar, and zero fat dressings. It has the distinctive smell that we automatically associate with Caesar dressings. This dressing is in the same line as the previous ones from Walden Farms that I have reviewed and but fairs a little better in the taste category than the others. It is hard to explain but the taste seems to hit farther back on the tongue rather than in the front. It is almost like an after-taste that you taste while eating. It is similar to the taste of some kind of hot spice that they just give you a hint of without actually giving it to you.

The ingredients are mostly the same as their other products and contain “Purified Triple Filtered Water”, white vinegar, cellulose gel, salt, buttermilk powder, anchovies, cheese flavor, lactic acid, onion, natural flavors, natural spices, xanthan gum, propylene glycol alginate, sodium benzoate, food color and sucralose. The only surprises here are the buttermilk power, anchovies and cheese flavor. It may be the anchovies that give Caesar dressings their distinctive smell.

Just like the other Walden Farms dressings, this has zero of everything including fat, calories, sugars, carbs and also nutritional values. The sodium content of this is medium and not unexpected. When you are finished eating this dressing your lips still have a tingle in them caused by the small amount of heat supplied in this dressing. This is not unpleasant and helps to remind you that you have eaten something. This sets it apart from the other Walden Farms dressings I have tried. This is a better product and has enough taste to make it worth your while trying.

Taste Rating = 4 bottles
Overall Rating = 3
Style Category = Caesar
Fat Category = fat free
Calorie Category = no calorie
Nutritional Category = none
Sodium Category = med

Walden Farms Jersey Sweet Onion Dressing

This is another offering by Walden Farms in their line-up of zero calories, zero sugar, and zero fat dressings. It has a different smell that reminds me of the smell of Ranch dressing. This dressing has the most taste of any Walden Farms dressings that I have tried so far. It still is not strong but this taste does stay with you a little longer than others. I don’t know what “Jersey Sweet” means. I tried Googling it but didn’t come up with anything so I guess it is just a name that they came up with. However, this dressing does have a little bit of sweet taste and I kept tasting it for several hours after eating it and it was not in an especially pleasant way.

The ingredients are mostly the same as their other products and contain “Purified Triple Filtered Water”, white vinegar, cellulose gel, salt, chopped onion, onion powder, natural flavors, natural spices, mustard flour, titanium dioxide, sucralose, lactic acid, propylene glycol alginate, xanthan gum, and sodium benzoate. The only difference between this dressing and the other is, not surprisingly, the chopped onion.

Just like the other Walden Farms dressings, this has zero of everything including fat, calories, sugars, carbs and also nutritional values. The sodium content of this is medium and not unexpected. This does have more taste than some of their other dressings and the taste is a little different than some of the more traditional dressings (like Ranch, Thousand Island, French, etc) and for that reason alone might warrant a try.


Taste Rating = 4 bottles
Overall Rating = 5
Style Category = Other
Fat Category = fat free
Calorie Category = no calorie
Nutritional Category = none
Sodium Category = med

WALDEN FARMS THOUSAND ISLAND DRESSING

Most of my life my dressing of choice has been Thousand Island dressing. That was until I started trying to lose weight and could not find any good low-calorie dressings. Needless to say I couldn’t wait to try the Calorie Free/Fat Free/Sugar Free offering from Walden Farms and once again I was disappointed by this one. The smell of it hinted of tomatoes but not really in a pleasant way because it also smelled of vinegar. Just like the Honey Dijon Vinaigrette the taste was very weak but the flavor of this one was not really good either. When I finished with my salad each day I found I had not enjoyed my salad at all. Even though the flavor was weak I didn’t really like it either. After eating it I felt that I had wasted a good salad by using this dressing on it.

The main ingredient of this dressing, like the Honey Vinaigrette dressing I tried previously was water. Once again it is listed as “Purified Triple Filtered Water” (as if this makes a difference!). Next in the list is white vinegar, tomato paste, cellulose gel, natural flavor, natural spices, salt, garlic powder, onion powder, pickle relish, lemon juice, xanthan gum, propylene glycol, alginate, sodium benzoate, food color, sucralose. This is very similar to the Honey Vinaigrette except for the tomato paste and pickle relish (probably not too surprising).

This is another dressing that I won’t be in any hurry to use again because of the vinegary taste of this offering. I guess I have to keep trying to find a good low-calorie Thousand Island dressing.

Taste Rating = 2 bottles.
Overall Rating = 2 bottles
Style Category = 1000 Island
Fat Category = fat free
Calorie Category = no calorie
Nutritional Category = none
Sodium Category = med

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