During the research for this book I’ve asked a lot of people about salad cream. When I was teaching, we put salad cream in lots of things such as stuffed eggs, and served it in a posh jug with a meal. Here is my research on salad cream which will appear in the book.
Salad cream was the first brand developed in 1925 by Heinz for the UK market. Salad cream was hugely popular during wartime rationing as it livened up the rather limited range of foods available. There is a class issue with salad cream, as it was popular in working class areas, and the more sophisticated cooks made their own mayonnaise. My favourite salad cream dish was mashed hard boiled eggs, salad cream and chopped chives in a wholemeal bread sandwich.
Salad cream sales began to decline in 1970’s when American mayonnaise arrived in our shops and it seemed a more sophisticated product.
Salad cream is virtually unknown outside the UK.
In 1998 Heinz relaunched the brand with the slogan –
Any food tastes supreme with Heinz salad cream.
In the 1990s I had the job to write a cookery leaflet with 21 Heinz salad cream recipes. My family despaired at having to eat salad cream with nearly everything!
The chef Marco Pierre White is supposed to have said
‘Salad cream is one of the greatest culinary inventions’ .
These are the food labels for salad cream and mayonnaise. Amazingly the ingredients are virtually the same, only in different proportions. Salad cream has half the calories of mayonnaise. Both use pasteurised egg yolk for safety to avoid salmonella food poisoning.
Heinz salad cream 332 calories per 100 g 41p per 100g
Spirit Vinegar, Vegetable Oil (25%), Water, Sugar, Mustard, Salt, Egg Yolks (3%), Modified Cornflour, Stabilisers – Guar Gum and Xanthan Gum, Colour – Riboflavin.
Hellmann’s mayonnaise 722 calories per 100g 45 p per 100g
Vegetable Oil (77%), Water, Pasteurised Egg & Egg Yolk (8%), Spirit Vinegar, Salt, Sugar, Lemon Juice, Mustard Flavouring, Antioxidant (Calcium Disodium EDTA), Paprika Extract.
What is the difference?
Mayonnaise contains more oil and has twice the number of calories weight for weight.
What is the same?
They both contain oil, water, spirit vinegar, egg yolk, salt, sugar, mustard.
They are similar in price which is not surprising as they have the same ingredients!
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