Homemade Dressing Mix Variety Pack (French Garden, Napa Garden & Italian Garden), 3.3 to 4-Ounce Containers

I first bought this collection back in 2013. It has taken me so long to get into the 3rd bottle that it is past expiration. On the other hand, it has taken me this long to get to the third bottle (French Garden BTW) because there was nothing in the first two that made it important for me to use the other two.Too many of the bottled dressings include sugar (?!) or some other less desirable sweetener, and way too much salt. Compared to the more popular store bought envelopes of salad powder, the variety pack is infinitely better. The envelope stuff is sugar, salt and chemicals. Maybe it is because I have so many local choices for spices and I grow myown basil that I find myself under whelmed with the Homemade Dressing Mix Variety Pack.I found very little to choose between the first two bottles (Italian and California) and I give the third an almost by, in that I suspect that even freshly opened it was no better than the other two. All made reasonable salad dressings but I found myself adding to all of them. At minimum a raw garlic clove, sometimes a Bay leaf went into the bottle; when I had some Romano or Parma or some other grated cheese and so forth. On a plus side, using a good quality balsamic always added depth and complexity to the finished dressing.We are not that fond of dry rubs, so I never used any in this form. I have a fairly wide selection of spices for sprinkling on foods, salads and never felt that these added better flavor than my other choices.My bottom line: Homemade Dressing Mix Variety Pack: a huge improvement over most bottled and envelope type salad dressing but not much of an improvement over what I can make using the spices I already carry.

When I first received my order of the Italian Dressing mix, I was a little wary. A lot of prepared herb and spice mixes on the market seem to be full chemicals that I can't pronounce and they taste very dull, extremely salty and have a strange, artificial after-taste. NOT THIS ONE!When my order arrived the first thing that I did was to taste the mixture straight out of the jar. I was surprised at how clean and fresh the taste was. I picked up on the herbs (I'm thinking oregano, basil, parsley, rosemary and maybe some mint), the sea salt and then the sweetness of the bell pepper combined with a tartness of the lemon juice. There was a slight bit of heat (the garlic?) and a nice, pure, food-like aftertaste.Next I mixed it with some fine olive oil and used it as a dip for some crusty Italian bread. Wonderful! Later in the week I used it, along with some Dijon Mustard, as a coating for a rack of lamb. I ended up adding a little crushed black pepper to the mix and it was great.Finally I used it as a salad dressing along with aged balsamic vinegar, wine vinegar and extra virgin olive oil. It took a few minutes to get the proportions right, and I did add a little chopped rosemary and some fresh minced garlic. It was much better than any prepared dressing that comes in a bottle.I was really impressed with the flavor and quality of this prepared mix, so much so that I ordered this variety pack. Here are my thoughts on the other two varieties that come with this set:* French GardenAt first taste it seemed salter than the Italian version. The chives not only tasted fresh but still retained their classic oval shape (meaning that they were not over-processed or ground to death). The garlic and onions were strong, but not too. I also picked up on the parsley and I thought I tasted a little tarragon. I added this mix to a French style omelet (runny). Very nice! My fear of it being too salty was put to rest. I next sprinkled it on some grilled eggplant and I was blown away! It woke up the subtle flavors of the vegetable. I will be trying this is other dishes to be sure.* Napa GardenThis mix had a different texture than the others, probably due to the tomato powder which added a wonderful richness to the blend. This one was not as salty as the other two. The pepper gave it a little heat but I usually like more (which is easy to add, hard to take out). I tried this (along with some olive oil) with spinach angel-hair pasta. That turn out to be a good choice. The mix did not overwhelm the flavor of the pasta but added that extra kick.I highly recommend this variety pack. All three will become staples in my spice cabinet.

I really wanted to like these dressings/marinades/rubs, but had to give upon them before I wasted a couple hundred in other ingredients trying to salvage the experiment. Maybe they're good as rubs or marinades? I made the various dressing mixes listed on the side of the bottles, but I didn't have the heart to put them on meat.I had two big problems:1) All of the dressing recipes are super, super, super vinegary. Even if you cut back on the vinegar, you're still left with super, super vinegary. If you're from South Carolina, this might be your thing. I'm not, it isn't.2) They all smell and taste similar! You know how every variety of Sam Adams tastes like, well... Sam Adams? These mixes have the same issue. If I had to guess, I'd say that "herb blend" that's the first ingredient on each bottle is the same blend - something proprietary that the makers spin off in different directions to make the different dressings.They are relatively healthy, without any scary fillers or sugar or whatnot, but Annie's, Wegman's and Brianna's make whole lines of relatively healthy dressings that actually taste good. I'll be going back to those, or making my own herb mixes.

These taste very salty and I have to use much less than directions say to use. Not the best choice for healthy salads!