Blue Cheese for Dressing
Karen from Cheyenne says her “mayonnaise-based, nice ‘n’ thick” bleu cheese and garlic dip and dressing starts separating after a day or two and wants to know how to keep it thick.

Although mayonnaise is a fairly stable emulsion of oil and egg, other dressing ingredients can affect the chemistry and cause the emulsion to destabilize or may not even incorporate into the emulsion and so drain out over time. Commercial dressings use additives such as agar, xanthum gum, or even corn syrup as stabilizers.

My blue cheese drssing includes blue cheese, olive oil, and lemon juice that I run briefly through a food processor. In this case, the oil separates from the cheese within a week. So my nice ‘n’ thick blue cheese dressing also separates after a day or two. I just stir it up again!

~ Chef Kevin