Homemade Mayo

Yesterday, we made yogurt cheese to get to the whey. Now most people would just throw out the whey - Nourishing Traditions adds it to homemade mayo to extend the shelf life (well, refrigerator life) from just 2 weeks to months. 

Mayo (from Nourishing Traditions)
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 tsp mustard
1 1/2 T lemon juice
1 T whey
3/4 - 1 cup oil
pinch salt

Put first 5 ingredients in a food processor and process until blended. With processor on, slowly stream in oil until thickened. Taste for seasoning and adjust with additional salt or lemon. Place mayo in jar and seal. Let sit at room temp for 7 hours then place in fridge. Makes 1.5 cups.

Now, I can hear some of you thinking "eggs at room temp for 7 hours!?!?" and you would be right to be suspicious. The thing is that by adding the whey and letting it incubate, you get lactic acid and that inhibits other (i.e. bad) bacteria from growing. What is also good, is that fermentation delays the oxidation of unsaturated oils because the bacteria consume all the oxygen. Another benefit of using the whey is that it thickens up the mayo. Now be smart - if something starts growing in your mayo or it starts smelling off...throw it out!!

You can make the mayo without the whey and you would then just place in the fridge directly. I didn't specify what kind of oil to use - one time I used all olive oil - too strong. The next time, I did mostly canola oil and some olive for flavor - better. The mayo is a nice yellow color from the egg and oil - so you know it is homemade! This is thinner than your store bought mayo - word of warning. But the loss of thickness is replaced with flavor...so I would rather have that! You can use this mayo any way you would traditional mayo. I have not cooked with it yet, so I'm  not sure how it would hold up in a casserole or dip; but it works well so far on sandwiches and in tuna salad!! Yum, yum, yum