If you grew up in the South, there’s a decent chance you have strong feelings about mayonnaise. Not the abstract idea of it, but the specific jar. Duke’s people are Duke’s people, and they will tell you so, usually before you’ve finished asking. And if you’ve been following this site for any length of time, you know that I’m pretty firmly in the Duke’s camp.
But what actually separates one mayonnaise from another? Some of it is a real, measurable difference, and some of it is plain loyalty. So let’s sort out both: what legally counts as mayonnaise, where Duke’s came from, and why the big brands taste the way they do. By the time we’re done, you’ll know which jar to grab and why.
What makes mayonnaise mayonnaise
At its core, mayonnaise is a simple thing. It’s an emulsion of oil, egg, and an acid, usually vinegar or lemon juice, beaten together until it’s thick, smooth, and pale. The egg yolk is the emulsifier, the ingredient that keeps the oil and acid combined instead of separating back out.
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Here’s the part most people don’t think about: “mayonnaise” is also a legal term. The FDA sets a standard of identity for it, which means a product has to meet certain requirements before it can use the term on the label. The big one is fat. Mayonnaise must contain at least 65 percent vegetable oil by weight, plus egg and an acidifying ingredient. That sounds like a technicality, but it’s the reason one very popular jar on the shelf isn’t allowed to use the word at all. I’ll get to that one.
Where Duke’s came from
Duke’s goes back to Eugenia Duke in Greenville, South Carolina. During World War I, she made and sold sandwiches to soldiers stationed at nearby Camp Sevier, and her mayonnaise was part of what kept peoplecoming back. The sandwiches did well enough that eventually the mayonnaise became the whole business…