By Alisa Fleming - Really, I only had interest in trialing the “creamy” vinaigrettes from Organicville.  Yet, after tasting those three varieties (plus the non-dairy ranch), Organicville rose to become my new favorite salad dressing company (sorry Annie’s, they’ve just got something extra).  Organicville seems to have an incredible knack for blending high quality ingredients into unique and enticing dressings.  Of course, this position of honor is not taken lightly.  It was time for me to trial all of their dressings, in order to claim my list of absolute favorites.

Even though I have never been a huge vinaigrette person, and even less of a fruity vinaigrette person, I had heard that the Cranberry Orange Organicville Dressing was awesome, and realistically, Pomegranate is just a huge curiosity of mine.  So after trialing the Sun-Dried Tomato & Garlic, Herbs de Provence, Olive Oil, and Sesame Tamari Vinaigrettes with great success, I decided that these two remaining flavors each deserved a shot at the top.

Pomegranate

Light and refreshing, both the color and delicate taste made me feel like this was the “champagne” of vinaigrettes.  To my pleasant surprise, it possessed only a mild tang of vinegar, rather than the pungent taste of most vinaigrette salad dressings.  The fruit imparted a lightly sweet taste that was in no way syrupy or over-the-top sweet.  While I loved how fresh and natural this one tasted when sampled alone, the subtle pomegranate notes were easy to lose amongst the bold flavors of your average veggie salad. 

Since it obviously wasn’t working on my typical lunchtime salad, I decided to pair this dressing with a salad more in tune with the overall theme, fruit!  With summer in full swing, I had just loaded up on organic peaches and strawberries.  I chopped them up and doused the mix with a couple of teaspoons of Organicville’s Pomegranate Dressing.  I realize you can’t see the champagne pink dressing, but it is on there, and doesn’t that fruit look good?

The fruit salad was a good choice.  The dressing entered with a mellow sweet tang that seemed to compliment this purely fruit snack, and exited with, well nothing.  It had quite the neutral aftertaste with only the acidic nature of the salad making itself more present.  While I enjoyed it, I must confess that I like my fruit best when unadorned, and my greens spiked with vinaigrette, so this wouldn’t be my first choice for an Organicville dressing. 

Orange Cranberry

Before a drop of this vinaigrette even touched down on my salad, I felt compelled to sample a taste.  Wow, positively smashing!  (Couldn’t you just hear a cool British accent in that?).  It had the absolute perfect blend of orange undertones, with a mild cranberry flavor.  Now, what could possibly do this flavor blend justice?

After a morning of snacking, I decided to keep up my mini-meal trend and made a small salad. Fresh arugula, some sliced orange bell pepper, and just a smattering of chickpeas looked just right.  I must admit, the dressing performed quite well.  Unlike the Pomegranate, it held its own, standing out just enough without tasting overly vinegar, overly citrus, or overly anything really.  It was pleasant, offering light notes of flavor from every ingredient, including a very light kick of ginger.  I noted some organic agave syrup in the ingredients (only 3g of sugar per 2 T though), which would account for that touch of sweetness that my taste buds enjoyed.

I am a grain lover, so after the salad wore off, I decided to cook up some millet. Feeling inspired by this dressing, I tossed in the rest of my dried cranberries (about a handful) and some ground coconut that had been dying to be used up (about 2 tablespoons) into the rice cooker along with ½ cup of the grains.  When I heard the click, I served up a bowl, and mixed in a tablespoon or two of the Orange Cranberry dressing.  Really, I was impressed with myself; it tasted quite good …mild, just the hint of citrus, and a nice lightly sweet cranberry background.  My confidence was up just a bit too much as I decided to contrast the mix with some cinnamon.  It was still good, but much more fresh tasting without the added spice.

It seems a fruit-inspired dressing has finally made it onto my grocery list!  Hopefully my first bottle doesn’t run out before I have the chance to trial the spinach, avocado, and green apple salad suggested on Organicville’s website.

My Extra Notes & Tips

• All of Organicville’s vinaigrettes/dressings are certified USDA Organic, and contain obsessively natural ingredients.  Plus they are vegan, gluten-free, and dairy-free.  Though none of Organicville’s products contain added sugar, a few do have a touch of Agave syrup, such as above.  They are all still “low sugar” though in the carb department.
• I noticed that Pomegranate was made with red wine vinegar, while the Orange Cranberry was made with apple cider vinegar.  I think this may have been one of the reasons that the Orange version hit my taste buds better, so this may obviously be a point of preference when considering these dressings.
• Ingredient and nutritional information is available on the Organicville Foods website.

Where to Purchase:  A few of Organicville’s Vinaigrettes, including this one, are available to purchase on Amazon in large, 33.8 ounce bottles.  Otherwise, visit the Organicville website to find a store near you.

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