Why Did I Start Making My Own Dressing?

Most store-bought Italian dressings are made with seed oils like canola or soybean oil, along with a list of preservatives and additives that have nothing to do with flavor. That is not a condemnation of any specific brand. It is just the reality of how shelf-stable processed dressings are made. Once I started paying attention to ingredients across the board, making my own dressing was a natural next step.

The first version was simple. Olive oil, red wine vinegar, water, and Watkins Organic Italian seasoning mix. Two packets per batch. Half a cup of vinegar, half a cup of water, one cup of olive oil. Shake it up in a swing-top bottle and you have 32 ounces ready to go. The whole thing takes about two minutes.

What Is High-Polyphenol Olive Oil and Why Does It Matter?

Polyphenols are natural antioxidants found in extra virgin olive oil. The higher the polyphenol count, the more of those antioxidant benefits you are getting per serving. Not all olive oil is created equal on this front. Processing, heat, and storage time all affect polyphenol content.

When I started learning more about this I switched from a standard olive oil to Atlas extra virgin olive oil, which is specifically grown and cold harvested to preserve high polyphenol levels. That was the first upgrade. Same recipe, better oil. It was an easy change that made the dressing noticeably better in flavor too, which is not always a given when you are trying to optimize something.

Why Did I Add Mushroom Powder?

I had been hearing a lot about the health benefits of functional mushrooms and decided to add them to my dressing. I use Microingredients Organic Mega Mushrooms powder, which is a 10-in-1 blend that includes lion’s mane, reishi, chaga, and several others. Ten scoops per 32-ounce batch.

You do not taste it. It blends into the dressing cleanly and does not change the flavor. Adding it felt like a logical step since I was already making the batch from scratch.

The Full Recipe

This makes 32 ounces of dressing, which I keep in the fridge and use throughout the week.

1 cup Atlas extra virgin olive oil Half a cup red wine vinegar Half a cup water 2 packets Watkins Organic Italian seasoning mix 10 scoops mushroom powder

Combine everything in a swing-top bottle. Shake well before each use. Use about one to one and a half tablespoons per salad.

The Bigger Point

I did not overhaul my diet overnight. I started with one habit, eating salad a few times a week, and then kept looking for small ways to do it better. Better oil. Better ingredients. One step at a time over two years.

That approach has served me well. You do not have to do everything at once. You just have to keep taking the next step.

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