Fear over mystery numbers triggers tasty natural mayo

Caption: Duane Heath has made his own natural mayonnaise out of concern about the mystery chemicals in many commercial products. Father-of-three Duane Heath has always been suspicious of those mystery numbers found in the ingredients list of most food products.But when he dug a little deeper and researched exactly what they are, he virtually broke out in a cold sweat.Hidden behind those numbers were a range of additives and chemicals that had even more hard-to-understand names that gave little away in terms of their health benefits or, rather, health dangers.The chemicals and preservatives are so common in everyday foods, it’s getting harder and harder to eliminate them from an ordinary diet.“I have a concern for my own kids and for the kids of other families too,” Mr Heath said, “and so it annoys me now that you can’t buy much healthy food anymore.”He noticed that some food labels promoted healthy ingredients, but on closer inspection, those ingredients were often minimal in quantity and overwhelmed by the chemicals.However, Mr Heath, a serial entrepreneur, addressed his fears by creating his own natural mayonnaise, called Moonshine Mayo, which is totally without any chemical ingredients.Its ingredients include free range eggs, olive oil, hand-squeezed lime juice, Himalayan rock salt and honey in place of sugar. There are none of those components that have numbers instead of real names, and no seed oils.“I love my cooking, but I love healthy cooking and cooking for longevity is a passion,” he said. “I just want to give my kids the best chance at a healthy life.”He noted that olive oil was notable because it was extracted by simply squeezing the olives, whereas many other oils, including most seed oils, required chemical processes to extract the oil.“I think a big reason why big companies don’t use olive oil is it’s more expensive, and preservatives are used to keep the products on the shelf for a year or more,” he said.“But it’s those preservatives that are questionable.”Mr Heath has also created Moonshine Mayo versions that include garlic and chilli.For more information, visit his Facebook page by searching “Moonshine Mayo”.

Taste Test

A test of Moonshine Mayo showed it had a wonderful creaminess without the textural blandness that can feature in commercial products. The olive oil gave it a natural texture and the lime juice helped to really give it a tang. I actually enjoyed spooning the Moonshine Mayo straight from the bottle and into my mouth, and also used it quite liberally on fried bacon which produced a quite spectacular flavour combination.