My SO decided to try a Salad Spritzer - the spray bottle salad dressing.

First ingredient:  water
Second ingredient: high fructose corn syrup.

what the fuck.

I'll just stick with olive oil and vinegar.

I agree with you. Olive oil, red wine vinegar and some thyme is the best and beats corn syrup, which is only added because it is an appetite enhancer like MSG is.

No, no, no.

Extra-virgin olive oil
Balsamic vinegar
Maple syrup
Rosemary (optional)

I so agree. I have just discovered Stirlings and Fever-Tree brand tonic waters to make G&T's out of. Both contain pure cane sugar as sweeteners and not a hint of high fructose corn syrup to be seen. It makes such a difference to the taste. The Fever-Tree is the cat's pyjamas AND the gnat's whiskers AND the dog's bollocks all combined. It tastes so much better than Schweppes it isn't true. As for Canada Dry it is a disgusting chemical syrup that should be forever consigned to the garbage can.

On the original subject of salad dressings I go along the shelf and eliminate all the bottles that contain either canola oil or soybean oil. The only brand left is http://www.seedsofchange.com/ made with sunflower oil and evaporated cane juice. It tastes so wonderful. Go buy the stuff and tell manufacturers you care about quality products.

Spritzer as an application method is still a good idea. Better coverage for fewer calories.

Heh. The traditional way is to drizzle a little over the salad and toss it gently to coat the leaves evenly on all sides.

Balsamic vinegar only makes sense if you are using lousy flavorless lettuce, like iceberg. Get some decent greens and you won't be talking about balsamic much longer.

Sugar? Syrup? In salad? Gak.

PE++

Rocket.
Spinach leaves.
Radiccio.
Cos.
Sliced Cucumber.
Parsley.
Chervil ...

Sugar is the chef's secret ingredient. Just the right amount added to things and people don't quite know what it is, but they ask why it tastes so good...

Here's the ingredient list for the Sweet Dijon Vinaigrette from Seeds of Change:

Water, sunflower oil, evaporated cane juice, vinegar, dijon mustard paste, yellow mustard paste, corn starch, sea salt, dried onions, roasted garlic puree, garlic puree, onion powder, extra virgin olive oil, locust bean gum, spices, turmeric.

I've tried it and it is tasty. You need some sweetness to balance out the mustard.

if you really want to go there ....

ev olive oil
juice of half a lemon/lime
balsamic (sorry PE, that shit is very good)
teaspoon dijon mustard
teaspoon honey
crushed clove of garlic
black pepper
salt

"Spritzer as an application method is still a good idea. Better coverage for fewer calories."

True.

I'm going to pour out its contents and put my own :)

it's olive oil and vinegar. you calorie count that stuff?

Honey, huh?

Our dressing bottle contains olive oil, Marzetti's #2, Dijon wholegrain mustard, cracked black pepper and a garlic clove that's been in there since God cut his first milk tooth. No salt. No citrus.

We used to use a reagent bottle to hold the mix but sadly no longer - now it's in a glass jug stoppered with an old champagne cork (nowhere near as classy but far more robust).

the honey balances the vinegar, the mustard and the lemon/lime. really sets the thing off.

I use honey/mustard combination in a lot of seasonings and dressings.

hmmmm. hungry. gonna go cook.

"it's olive oil and vinegar. you calorie count that stuff?"

No, I'm not concerned about calories.  I don't go overboard, but I eat when I'm hungry.

My concern is the potential sugar/carb spike and subsequent craving for more.

I get pissed when foods unecessarily contain sugar.  I feel like there is some conspiracy to get me addicted.

I take it personally.

It pissed me off that healthier foods cost more than manufactured crap.

>>> It pissed me off that healthier foods cost more than manufactured crap.

It's the inevitable outcome of the industrial farming and food production system.  Costs are subsidized through a variety of systems, so the manufactured crap is cheaper than "real" food.

Buying cooked food (processed?) is better for the environment.

A potato is mostly water. Shipping chips releases far less carbon emissions than the equivalent water-logged potato (never mind how inefficient cooking at home is compared to industrial processes).

Well also the healthier stuff does have higher costs to produce. It really is often cheaper to use pesticides and herbicides and GMO, especially for big field crops, less of a big deal for fruits and vegetables. For fruits it's mainly a cosmetic issue that people won't buy an apple that has black spots where the bugs were nibbling.

For prepared foods, artificial and even 'natural' (not what you think though) flavors are less expensive by far than using herbs and spices as flavoring, and the sad fact is most people find MSG and salt to be tastier than real food. People prefer to eat what they are used to eating.

Imagine what happens when I offer my neighbors sacks of organic salad including arugula and such. They accept it the first time and the second time they say 'no thanks'.

>>> Well also the healthier stuff does have higher costs to produce. It really is often cheaper to use pesticides and herbicides and GMO,

Not if you include all the costs.  Large animal farms don't pay for the environmental damage caused by the huge amounts of cow and pig shit they produce.  Large corn and soy farms don't pay for the environmental damaged caused by the runoff of the excessive fertilizer and pesticides they spray.  There are tons of subsidies in place for corn, pesticides, etc. so that it's almost impossible to say what the real cost of industrial farming is.

By contrast, the "ideal pastoral" farm described in Omnivore's Dilemma is more efficient in terms of productivity either per acre or per farmer.  But the processes and systems used in that type of farm don't scale as well - they can't be automated, they can't be reduced to a simple set of rules.

Yeah, sure, but businesses do not factor in 'damage to the environment' or 'bleak future for children of tomorrow' in business plans. To do so would be irresponsible to the shareholders, or so they say. What matters is this year's profit, not some fuzzy future something that may or may not happen.

Anyway, it's the consumers that decide. Even among die-hard environmentalists, most of them when faced with $3/lb for organic tomatoes and $1/lb for factory tomatoes will buy factory. Or if they buy organic, it is only because the better taste is that much more valuable to them, not because they are really willing to pay an extra $2 not to have pesticide runoff.

Businesses sell you the products you want. There is some demand for organic food, but it's not a very strong demand as soon as you mention that it costs more.