Plain and simple, homemade mayonnaise is never going to taste anything like the store bought option. Some people might tell you it tastes superior to any of the mayonnaise manufactured for commercial purposes, but that is really a matter of personal preference.
The truth is that there are advantages and disadvantages to both types, so whether you’ve only eaten store-bought mayonnaise and are thinking about trying homemade or the other way around, the following might help you decide if it’s worth switching or not, or at least worth trying something new.
Store-Bought Mayonnaise
Advantages
- Mayonnaise produced for selling has the greatest advantage of a long shelf life. Unopened mayonnaise lasts for one week past the expiration date. Once opened, it’s safe to consume the food two to three months, although you might notice some changes in color and flavor some time before that.
- The second advantage to commercial brands-mayonnaise is no cooking effort. You’d be surprised, but so many people give up on homemade mayonnaise because they find it difficult to cook.
- The third advantage is cost. Commercial brands mayonnaise cost less than what it costs to make the homemade version, some anyway.
- And finally, the fourth advantage is the taste, different to homemade mayonnaise. This is listed as an advantage for people who find homemade mayonnaise disgusting. Store bought mayonnaise has ingredients that provide a different taste.
Disadvantages
- Most stores bought mayonnaise contain highly processed oils the likes of soybean oil, for example, most likely genetically modified and thus unhealthy. They also may contain other harmful ingredients depending on the brand. The majority will definitely have sugar, salt and vinegar and too much sugar and too much salt is known to be bad for health, while vinegar is used as the cheaper alternative to lemon juice.
- Added to the above disadvantage is the fact that store-bought mayonnaise is made with eggs that most likely come from battery hens that have been fed unhealthy food, thus producing unhealthy eggs.
- Some of the better brands are expensive.
Homemade Mayonnaise
Advantages
- You get to choose your ingredients and make mayonnaise as healthy and as tasty as you prefer. You are free to use any type of oil, add lemon juice or mustard to your recipe, the amount of salt you want and so on.
- Homemade mayonnaise tastes much flavorful than the store-bought version.
- It keeps well in the refrigerator and can be consumed within two weeks since preparation time.