Five best mayonnaises

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This was published 9 years ago

Five best mayonnaises

With contenders like these, it's no wonder mayonnaise is fast becoming everyone's favourite condiment.

By SIMONE EGGER

FIVE OF A KIND

MAYONNAISE

 What's in a name? Same mayo, different labels, depending on which side of the Rocky Mountains you're on.

What's in a name? Same mayo, different labels, depending on which side of the Rocky Mountains you're on.

KEWPIE

Japanese mayonnaise is one of 20th-century Japan's Western-fusion wonders, like green tea Kit-Kats. It takes an everyday Western product and Japanifies it by adding Eastern ingredients. The Kewpie brand, which launched in Japan in 1925, is distinguished from other mayonnaise by its use of only the egg's yolk and a blend of rice and distilled vinegars. It's more squirtable than traditional mayonnaise, and has a savoury tartness that's subtle enough for seafood (and good enough for Andrew McConnell's New England lobster rolls). Kewpie has just released wasabi-flavoured mayonnaise: it's creamy with a horseradish kick, and tastes great.

 East meets West: Japan's Kewpie Mayonnaise.

East meets West: Japan's Kewpie Mayonnaise.Credit: Richard Cornish

BEST FOODS REAL MAYONNAISE

To say it's the best mayonnaise on the market might be stretching it, but the ingredients, listed in descending order of proportion, has all the right ones at the top: oil, egg and vinegar. In the imports aisle, there's Hellmann's looking remarkably similar to Best's - right down to the ingredients. Hellmann's was a popular brand on America's east coast when Best started becoming popular on the west coast. By the time Best's bought out Hellmann's (in 1935) both brands had such a following that the same company (now Unilever) marketed both: anywhere east of the Rocky Mountains is Best's, anywhere west, Hellmann's.

ORGANIC EGG FREE MAYO

Looks like mayonnaise, smells like mayonnaise, tastes like mayonnaise, but when it's missing one of the three key ingredients of mayonnaise, what is it? Technically it's called "mayo", so balks any potential food-naming rights issues. As the brand name states, this British import (available at most organic food stores), is vegan and made from organic sunflower oil, cider vinegar, mustard flour and soya beans. It's more vinegary and tart than an egg-based mayo off the shelf, but thick and creamy, and a terrific alternative if you're avoiding eggs and/or animal products.

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PAUL NEWMAN'S OWN AIOLI

Aioli is almost as well represented as mayonnaise in some supermarkets. As far as readymade preparations go, aioli is a garlic mayonnaise. It's made with the same key ingredients of egg, oil and vinegar, but with loads of garlic, which gives it punch and makes it a gutsy companion to fried or grilled savouries. Paul Newman's Own Classic Aioli is full-flavoured and creamy, and all profits go to the late actor's charity foundation funding things such as teacher training for the Australian Literacy and Numeracy Foundation.

PRAISE DELI STYLE

In squeezable tubes, Praise's range of flavoured mayonnaises are designed to squirt on a sandwich. Each flavour even has a sandwich suggestion on the pack. The Peri Peri Sandwich Mayo is like tomatonnaise (we've all mixed tomato sauce and mayo, haven't we?) with chilli: it's not a shy flavour. The other flavours are dijonnaise and honey mustard – let's call it honey-mustardaisse. There are also three aioli in the range: classic, light and chipotle. These you'd also squeeze over savouries, which some might prefer to dipping – avoiding the whole double-dip conundrum.

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