Tessemae’s is a brand of dressings, marinades and dips that are all natural, vegan, gluten free, and sugar free. I was offered the opportunity to scoop them up and give them a try. They currently have a dozen varieties. Here’s a little bit of info on the seven that I got to try:
Matty’s BBQ Sauce. I used it as a marinade for some chicken to top off a pasta salad. I was quite impressed with Matty’s BBQ Sauce. It was sweet and tangy and not overly smoky the way some barbecue sauces can be. It had a familiar flavour that I couldn’t quite place. I ended up reading the ingredients and found that the first ingredient was dates. I never would have thought to use dates in a BBQ sauce, but it works.
Lemon Chesapeake. This one has a very distinct flavour, almost a bit of a curry smell. It had a bit of kick to it from the black pepper, which surprised me because I usually don’t find black pepper to be very strong. I think this one would be best used as a marinade.
Lemon Garlic. This is their original flavour that started it all. It has quite a subtle flavour. I tried it with a tossed green salad. I think it’s a good dressing to use if you prefer mild salad dressings and really like to taste the individual flavours of the vegetables in their salad.
Zesty Ranch. This one is different from most ranch dressings because it’s vinaigrette style rather than creamy, so it’s relatively light. It’s a nice alternative if you want ranch flavour but don’t like creamy dressings.
Southwest Ranch. Like the Zesty Ranch, this is more vinaigrette style than the creamy style ranch that most people are used to. It definitely has more kick to it than the other dressings I tried. I think this one would be good on a Mexi-style salad and would be a good marinade for meat.
Red Wine Vinaigrette. Fat free! This one smelled very good, but it was a tad too sour for me. That being said, I ended up mixing it with some of the Lemon Garlic dressing and it was a pretty tasty mix.
Soy Ginger. This one was definitely my favourite. Ginger and soy always go well together, and this was no exception. The flavours were perfectly balanced. I could easily use this dressing again and again on salads or as a marinade for veggies or meat.
The dressings are supposed to be refrigerated after opening. One thing you need to remember is that because they are olive oil based, they solidify when refridgerated. You should bring the bottle out of the fridge before you start your food prep to allow the olive oil enough time to liquify again. Overall, Tessemae’s has a good selection of all natural, vegan, gluten free dressings. They are available at Whole Foods Markets.
Checkout their website here: Tessemae’s