… is an ignorant question I asked recently. I mean, look at the ingredient list of a typical bottle of French salad dressing:

Soybean(s) Oil, Water, Vinegar (Cider, Vinegar Distilled), Sugar, Tomato(es) Paste; Contains 2% or less of the Following: (Salt, Spice(s), Onion(s) Powder, Xanthan Gum, Propylene Glycol Alginate, Paprika Extractives, Calcium Disodium EDTA, Caramel Color, Flavor(s) Natural.

And here’s a different brand, with strikingly similar ingredients:

Soybean(s) Oil, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Water, Vinegar, Salt, Whey (from Milk), Modified Food Starch, Paprika, with Sorbic Acid and Calcium Disodium EDTA as Preservative, Polysorbate 60, Garlic Dried, Xanthan Gum, Guar Gum, Yellow 6, Yellow 5, Flavor(s) Natural.

Yikes. But whatever, because I hate French dressing anyway, or at least so I thought.

The salad that changed everything; I tell myself it's not so bad to eat as much dressing as salad when the ingredients aren't awful.

Now that I’ve actually made my own, however, I guess I will have to add French dressing to the (embarrassingly long) list of Things I Thought I Hated That Are Actually Awesome (this list includes cucumbers, asparagus, avocado, sweet potatoes, and pretty much everything else good). The following recipe totally made me see the light. It’s a slightly modified version of Paleo Effect’s Paleo French Salad Dressing.

French Dressing

1/3 C white vinegar
2 T red wine vinegar
2 T honey (raw and local if you can get it; use more or less depending on your taste; the original calls for 1/3 cup, but that is a little too sweet for me.)
1/3 C (HFCS-free) ketchup
½ C extra virgin olive oil
1 clove garlic
1 t smoked paprika
2 T tamari (in case you are unfamiliar with tamari, it’s just soy sauce without the wheat, caramel coloring, or sodium benzoate; this is the brand I use)
sea salt & pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients and blend. Allow flavors to meld at least an hour before serving (overnight is even better).

Our cucumbers are coming in right now, and this dressing is my favorite thing to eat them with.

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