“Vibrant and colorful raspberry vinaigrette is a great choice to serve on a nutty or fruity salad.”  Jolinda Hackett

What is your opinion of a raspberry vinaigrette dressing on your salad?

Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. (Gen 1:11; NIV)

I’m not sure when I first started hearing about raspberry vinaigrette for a salad dressing.  I’ve always loved this luscious little berry. I like everything about it–the brilliant, reddish-pink color, the sweet, almost perfume-like taste, and yes, even those tiny, little seeds.  So, making a dressing using raspberries and putting it on my salad seemed like a wonderful idea.  Several years ago I began seeing bottled raspberry vinaigrette in supermarkets.  If you’ve read many of my musings you can imagine that I wasn’t too pleased with the ingredients in the bottled dressings.  Sugar, sugar, and more sugar along with distilled vinegars and artificial colorings and flavorings.

I began looking for raspberry vinaigrette recipes.  Another disappointment.    Containing various forms of sugar and other artificial ingredients was not what I was hoping to find.   The sophisticated recipes used raspberry vinegar.  I actually thought about making some raspberry vinegar.  However, before I did that, I read many recipes and then began concocting ingredients in the kitchen using other vinegars to see what I could come up with.  Today’s recipe is a variation of some of those early attempts.  I use organic balsamic vinegar and organic brown rice vinegar.  Both of these are readily available now in health food sections of supermarkets.  Non-organic balsamic vinegars can contain sulfites and artificial colorings and flavorings.

All summer long the Sam’s Club near our home has offered beautiful, plump, organic red raspberries in a “bigger than normal” size container for a very reasonable price.  I bring some home with me every time I go!  Some times they actually make it into a dressing or a smoothie.  Most of the time they make it into my mouth as a sweet treat.  Jerry’s not fond of “the seeds,” so I get to indulge myself with one of my most favorite fruits.

Frozen raspberries work just as well as fresh in this recipe.  A key to making this rich and creamy dressing is to drizzle (pour slowly) the olive oil into the blender while the blender is running.  This will incorporate the oil and thicken the dressing.  The dressing can be strained to remove the seeds should you desire. 

Have a “berry” happy day!

Prayer Power
Father, we thank You for all of the wonderful flavors and tastes in the food that You have so abundantly blessed us with.

Link of the Day
Raspberry Vinaigrette

Blessings on you as you enjoy some raspberries.