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

SouthBeach Living Ranch Dressing

I haven’t taken a poll but it appears there are more “light” Ranch dressings than just about any other kind of dressing. This one is from South Beach but made by Kraft but surprisingly fares worse than the Kraft Light Ranch in some ways. This dressing fits into the South Beach Diet in Phases 2 and 3.

This dressing shares the same calorie amounts as the Kraft but in a couple of other categories it is worse. It has more fat (7g vs. 4.5), fat calories (60 vs. 40), and Sat Fat (1g vs .5) but does fare better on total carbs (2g vs. 7), and also in sodium content (300mg vs. 370). Granted, these differences are not too much for either one, but the biggest question is “what about the taste”? In that I would give the nod to the Kraft Light over the South Beach Ranch. Neither one of them has an overpowering or unpleasant taste and they are very similar in many ways but I just think the Kraft Light has a bit more taste. I guess this can be attributed to the higher sodium content which appears to be the way manufacturers choose to add taste. The South Beach version is not bad just a little too bland to stand out from the others. It pretty much tastes like mayonnaise with a hint of something else it but the list of ingredients doesn’t give it away because there is very little out of the ordinary in it. I found with this dressing I tended to use even more than usual hoping to get some taste.


Taste Rating = 4
Overall Rating = 5
Style Category = Ranch
Fat Category = low fat
Calorie Category = medium calorie
Nutritional Category = none
Sodium Category = med

PUBLIX FAT-FREE THOUSAND ISLAND DRESSING

In case you are not familiar with Publix – it is a chain of supermarkets in the southeastern United States with stores in GA, FL, SC, TN, and AL. I did not plan to discuss regional or store-brands but I just happened to have a bottle of this dressing and since I never want to throw anything out I decided to try this for a few days just to see how it stacks up. In a nutshell, this is not a bad dressing, in fact, it is pretty fair. I won’t go much farther than that. My first impression was from the smell and it smells like all other Thousand Island dressings – like pickle relish. This gave me hope at the very beginning and I was only slightly disappointed. I used this dressing for a week or so at lunch and didn’t come away feeling nauseated by the dressing.

It is very thick and coats your salad well and you can probably get by with the recommended serving size (2Tbsp) and it is on the low side in calories (40) and fat-free so it gets a nod from me with just that.
This is not an overpowering dressing by any stretch of the imagination and while eating it often seems hard to taste. Rather than a strong taste this has a pretty bland or indistinct taste. I would describe the taste as being simple rather than complex which is what I prefer. When I finish my salad I would find myself asking “now what was it I just used?” Although I will not look forward to buying this in the future I won’t mind using it until it is all gone.


Taste Rating = 4 bottles
Overall Rating = 5 bottles
Style Category = 1000 Island
Fat Category = fat free
Calorie Category = low calorie
Nutritional Category = none
Sodium Category = med

Maple Grove Farms of Vermont Lite Honey Mustard

The advertising statement for this dressing claims - “Finally…a lite dressing full of flavor with all the zing of our original Honey Mustard. One of our favorites!” I cannot really disagree with this statement since I haven’t tried their original Honey Mustard but I would not say it has much “zing”. The smell is not very strong and the taste is similar. It has a good flavor that is not overpowering but a little on the sweet side rather than sharp or spicy.

This dressing has more fat, carbs and sugars compared to many other “light” dressing and this is reflected in the starting ingredient, high fructose sugar. That is followed by water, cider vinegar, vegetable oil (contains soy or canola oil), dry buttermilk, Dijon mustard (back mustard seeds, vinegar, white wine, salt spices), honey, salt, mustard (mustard seeds, vinegar, salt, spices), mustard powder, lemon juice concentrate, mustard seed, xanthan gum, potassium sorbate (preservative), caramel color, dry onion and dry garlic. This does indicate that mustard is definitely in this dressing since it is mentioned several times in the list of ingredients but the taste is not as sharp as you would think.

As I mentioned earlier, this dressing is not as “lite” as some others. The total fat is 5g (7%) with 0.5 g of saturated fat (4%) and total carbs = 9g (3%) and 9g of sugar. Also the sodium content is high with 300mg (13%). Apart from this the dressing is pleasant, sweet but not overpowering. If it had fewer fat and calories I would not object to using this dressing frequently. I compares fairly well again the Newman’s Own Light Honey Mustard dressing but is not as tangy or strong-tasting.

Taste Rating = 7
Overall Rating = 6
Style Category = Honey Mustard
Fat Category = low
Calorie Category = med calorie
Nutritional Category = none
Sodium Category = med