Homemade Mayo

I don't do recipe posts here very often, because it is not really my specialty. We definitely cook and prepare most of our own meals in our house, but we don't necessarily develop our own recipes. We follow other people's recipes, or we just make it up as we go along and eat whatever the results are.

Over the last couple years, I've tried a few different methods to make my own mayo. The online instructions promised it would be quick and easy, with delicious results. I tried it in my stand mixer, my blender, and my food processor, all with the same result: drippy, runny "mayo" that failed to emulsify. Of course, I always ate it anyway, because I hate to waste, but it was not thick like mayo is supposed to be.

When I was recently having a hard time finding mayo without added sugar, I thought I would try it again. This time, I followed a recipe using an immersion blender. The recipe I followed was for "Foolproof Homemade Paleo Mayo", from thehealthyfoodie.com. I'm sure there are similar recipes for non-Paleo mayo, I just happened to be looking for a sugar-free recipe at the time.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup extra-light olive oil
• 1 large egg (I used two as my eggs were smaller)
• 3 tsp lemon juice
• Pinch of salt

I also added some mustard powder and pepper to mine.

The basic steps are as follows, but please feel free to follow the real recipe as well.

• Add the egg, lemon juice, salt, and other spices to the bottom of a tall mason jar.
• Dump the oil over top of those ingredients and allow everything to settle in the jar for a few seconds.
• Put your immersion blender into the jar, straight to the bottom, and turn on for 20 seconds. Your mayo should turn white and start to thicken.
• After 20 seconds, move your blender straight up through the contents, then start to move the blender around to finish blending the rest of the oil in the jar. Be careful not to come above the top of the contents or you may splatter mayo all over the place.

A couple of notes!

• Make sure you use the lightest olive oil you can find. My first batch tasted strongly of olive oil, my second batch with lighter oil was much better.
• The mayo can look a little runny at first but gets thicker once you cool it in the fridge.
• This lasts in the fridge for two weeks, max! Only make as much as you can use. If you see any black specs of mold on it, sorry, it's done.

From the perspective of bulk ingredients, here's how it stacks up.

• Olive oil - currently we are still using up olive oil purchased in conventional bottles. However, a lot of you have made me aware of bulk options that I will be checking out as soon as it is used up!
• Eggs - we purchase our eggs direct from a farmer, who takes the cartons back. If that is not available to you, you can easily buy eggs in recyclable cardboard cartons.
• Lemon juice - straight from whole lemons, then freeze any left over juice.
• Salt - available in bulk at multiple locations (Community Natural Foods, Superstore, Bulk Barn, etc).

Anyways, I'm stoked I finally found a method that works!

Have you ever made your own mayo? Leave a comment!