Miracle Whip or mayo? Not the same thing.

Ever since Kraft started putting Miracle Whip in plastic jars... Better?

I never use Miracle Whip, but my Hellman's/Best Foods mayo has never gone rancid, and I buy large jars even tho we don't use it a lot.

IâÂÂve used Best Food my entire life thatâÂÂs all my mother ever bought thatâÂÂs all I ever bought up until this last summer. I returned several jars that tasted rancid months before the use by date. I was thinking maybe it was the very hot summer. I bought from VonâÂÂs, Winco and Costco and all were bad. I called the 800 number they said nothing had changed sent me coupons got free mayo and still tasted bad so I switched to Kraft. ItâÂÂs ok but then I got a couple of jars in August, dated for November, that were rancid. I tried several other brands even made my own but now I really try not to use any.

So many of our food are changing with all the crap the try to substitute for real ingredients it hard to tell what we are eating anymore. Between the GMOâÂÂs, HFCS and soy oil nothing is much good anymore.

Claudia

Good to know others have noticed this. My mom wrote Kraft a letter when she got a bad jar. They sent her coupons for free jars, one of which she gave to me. These jars went bad too. This was over the summer, so not that long ago. We thought it was just us.

It happened to me on the Best Foods too. I've called, received coupons and now try not to buy in advance. I don't use it often, however DH loves it in his tuna and in one particular dipping sauce. I assumed it was a change in the type of soy oil, however if you're also having the problem with Kraft, I'll bet it's related to the plastic jars.

Just to point out -- in case some people aren't aware -- Hellman's and Best Foods are the same.

Haven't had that problem but thanks for the heads up.

I was going to say that Hellman's and Best Food were the same too!

No I have not had this happen. We use Hellmans Mayo and Kraft Miracle Whip pretty much exclusively. So far so good. I have purchased the mayo from ALDI and actually it was just as good as Hellman's so in the future, I will buy the cheaper one ALDI carries.

I gave up on prepared mayo. The ingredient quality has gone to heck.

I make the whole egg version, now, in a glass jar I saved from some other food with a stick blender. The Top Secret recipe for Hellman's tastes great and I make just what I need.

Out of curiosity, what is the temperature where you store your food? That could make a huge difference if shelf-life. Room temperature is considered 70-degrees F, and each 10-degrees warmer will shorten the shelf-life, and the opposite is also true. Ten-degrees cooler will lengthen shelf-life.

In the world of home food storage, I've found mayonnaise (not Miracle Whip) listed as a food with a nearly indefinite shelf-life, but there wasn't any discussion between plastic and glass, which just may be the problem.

-Grainlady

IâÂÂve stored unopened Best Foods in the pantry for years without a problem after its opened I keep it in the refrigerator. My mother kept it opened it in a cabinet with the mustard when I was growing up, never in the refrigerator, and we all lived.

I ask them when I called when they had changed from vegetable oil to soy and was told it was years ago but really couldnâÂÂt say when but it seems that when I was looking at ingredients comparing the Costco brand with Best Food about a years or so ago Best Food still was made with vegetable oil.

It just seems so many foods have an off taste anymore. Maybe itâÂÂs the plastic but I think itâÂÂs the soy oil they seem to have a need to put in everything. Or maybe my taste buds are just getting old!

Claudia

Grainlady, My house is usually around 65 or 70 but does get higher in our 115 summers sometimes 80 in the house.

You could be onto something with the change in ingredients.

Hmm, the GMO soy or Chinese soy may well be the culprit. I was never a big user of mayo, however I enjoyed it in tuna, chicken or egg salads. A number of years ago I found that the taste had changed and saw soybean oil on the label. I store opened jars in the fridge. I did store an unopened extra jar in the garage pantry, however after a rancid episode, i now keep one back up in the pantry closet off of the kitchen. The jars are smaller and with a huge dimple in the bottom, so they don't hold as much as they used to! Best: Foods/Hellman's has been the one and only, although DH would probably love the homemade variety!

Like Alex, I make mayo with a stick blender (easier to clean than a regular blender), but I have to be careful not to leave the stick blender standing in the container, as it can easily fall over. Fortunately, mine is detachable, and so I can remove the working end from the motor part if I have to. I also make it with a whole egg so I don't have to store the egg white. I make it with part olive oil and part grape seed oil. The olive oil has a lot of flavor, but if you use the regular olive oil (labeled as "for sauteing") instead of the extra virgin, the flavor is milder. I got used to the olive oil flavor, however, and now prefer it, even though it is very different.

For sandwiches, I add some of my smoked habanero chili sauce to the mayo, and that gives it quite a kick. I've never liked Miracle Whip - it has an off flavor, sort of like sweet pickles, which I also will not eat. My sister likes both of those, however.

Anyway, mayo is extremely easy to make, and it is easy to clean up if you use the stick blender. If you use a regular blender, it is difficult to get out.

Lars

Alex,

Would you share the top secret recipe for Hellman's? My home made is pretty good but itâÂÂs missing something.

Claudia

Sure Claudia!

This keeps refrigerated for about 2 weeks. If I double it, I use 1&1/2 cups oil.

1 large egg
2&1/4 tsp white vinegar (I sometimes use apple cider vinegar)
1 tsp water
1/4 tsp + 1/8 tsp salt
1/4 tsp + 1/8 tsp sugar (can use Splenda)
1/4 tsp lemon juice
1 cup vegetable oil (I've used safflower, sunflower, and some bacon drippings)

This isn't in the Top Secret recipe, but I add a tsp of dijon if I have it.

To make with a stick blender, I put everything in a tall, narrow container that fits the blender and add the oil last. Insert the blender all the way to the bottom, turn on and once you see it start to emulsify lift up slowly. I pump it up and down a couple of times and it's done. Takes less than a minute.

Alternatively, you can follow his whisking instructions.
1. Whisk the egg yolk by hand for 15 seconds.

2. Combine the vinegar, water, salt, sugar and lemon juice in a small bowl or glass measuring cup. Stir until the salt and sugar are dissolved. Add half of this solution to the egg yolk and whisk for another 15 seconds.

3. Pour canola oil into a plastic squirt bottle or spouted measuring cup. Add a few drops of oil into the yolk and whisk, and continue to add oil a little bit at a time while whisking nonstop. When you have used about half the oil, your mayonnaise should be very thick. Add the remaining vinegar solution. Whisk some more. Now you can add the remaining oil in a steady stream while whisking until all of the oil has been added. Your mayonnaise should be thick and off-white color when it's done.

Thanks alex IâÂÂll give it a try I usually use apple cider vinegar also.

Claudia

Alex, thanks for the reminder on the stick blender. Mine usually languishes in the back of the cabinet, seldom used, and I wash all the parts to the food processor.

Annie

I'm going to try this! Thanks for the recipe.

This is a little off topic, but the recipe in the link is to-die-for! Sometimes I cheat and just add a bit of curry powder to the mayo for a quick chicken saladâ¦or, more likely just dip my chicken into the quick mix and chow down ;D

Here is a link that might be useful: Chicken with Curry Sauce

Yes, I purchased MIRACLE Whip which I have always used to make my deviled eggs. I did not realize it was rancid until I tasted one of my eggs. It was terrible and I threw it all out ! It was in the Plastic jars now that they use. No more Miracle Whip for me. Too bad.

Today is 1/28/2024 and i just opened a fresh Miracle Whip with an Apr 2024 use by date and it was tan and curdy at the top with a bad smell and a rotten taste. So, since the fam is serious about mayo, i had 2 more in the pantry and went to open another, with a use by 12/24 date, and it was just as BAD. We grew up in the south loving Miracle Whip, and now to pay $6-$7 for one bottle and realize all three are rotten, is annoying and costly.

Miacle Whip….you owe me $20. Why didnt you just put out a recall?

Miracle Whip is not mayonnaise.

I don't know about Miracle Whip, but if your pantry is too warm, commercially jarred mayonnaise can go off, especially if it's the kind with no preservatives and stabilizers. Thought I think Miracle Whip has sugar, which is a good stabilizer.

if you put these in the pantry more than a month ago, all bets are off. If you bought the jars within the last week, you have a good argument that they went bad in transit to you, and your store should refund your money. Between a week and a month, it could go either way, but if you call Kraft at the number on the label, they'll probably at least give you replacement coupons to settle it because they want to keep you as a customer.

Me too! Just bought two jars of Miracle Whip since they were on sale and both when opened have brown at the top and does not taste right

Going off like that sounds like heat damage. Thought about the plastic jar issue: Glass is an insulator. I don't know if it's significant enough to protect the MW better in transit, but it's an ifea....

I have used miracle whip all my life & they need to go back to glass jars these plastic jars are no good its a terrible smell from them & it makes me sick just smelling it & i cant even eat after smelling it i would pay more money if it were in glads jars again cause i know it would be fine