NO EGGS!! I first heard about Hampton Creek while watching Andrew Zimmern’s show, “Bizarre Foods”. I was quite intrigued by the promise of egg based products without the use of eggs. You see my 2.5 year old daughter has a pretty severe egg allergy, so we constantly have to watch out for egg within foods to prevent any allergic reactions. There are a lot of egg based products out there!
Anyhow, I was super excited when Hampton Creek contacted us and sent us several of their mayos and cookie dough to try out. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, but had high hopes after seeing Zimmern’s excitement on TV.
We started off our tasting by trying out the mayos first. They come in 4 different flavors. (Garlic, Siracha, Regular, and Chipotle – in order of the picture above)
The most important test was trying the regular. How would this taste compared to the mayo I had grown up with all my life? I’d say the taste was a solid “A”! It really did taste just like mayo, although a touch more acidic. We used it to make tuna salad, sandwich spread, and tested each flavor as dipping sauces with carrot sticks. My daughter loved it! All of the flavor variations were of great quality. The garlic was very “garlicy”, which I think it is a good thing for me. The siracha definitely was present, although not super spicy. And, the chipotle was nice and smokey. It was both Darren’s and my favorite of the flavored ones.
As far as consistency, I’d give it an “A-“. It’s pretty darn close to real mayo, but a touch more dense and less squeezable (if that’s even a word).
Another treat provided was a sample for was their Just Cookie Dough! Since there is no egg, you can literally eat it straight up without the inherent risk of eating real cookie dough (I still do that from time to time). It definitely looked like real cookie dough, tasted like cookie dough, so next would be the bake test.
In the oven, the cookies started to take shape and I was getting pretty excited. They rose quite nicely as they baked, but once I took them out, they began to deflate a bit and it ultimately ended up as a flatter and crunchier cookie than I prefer. Taste overall was a solid “B+”. I’m thinking for the next batch, perhaps I’ll experiment with the initial dough ball size to see if I can get a doughier and softer cookie. Regardless, I’m super impressed given there is absolutely no egg in there.
Hampton Creeks is doing a fantastic job of changing the way we can all eat. I’m super excited to see what other products they are able to think up next and suggest you give them a try. A year ago, it was really tough to find their products in SoCal but now you can get any of these items at your local grocery store.
Finally, Hampton Creeks has been making a lot of press recently because Unilever is suing them for using the name “Mayo” in their product since it doesn’t technically have egg (Article). I personally think this is a bunch of garbage and simply a huge food conglomerate trying to bully innovation and sustainability. If you agree with me, Andrew Zimmern has setup a petition to speak your mind quickly and online.
Hampton Creek debuts on the Travel Channel from Hampton Creek on Vimeo.
All of their foods are dairy free too! Oh, and for the cookies, they have ways on their website to make them differently with adding more flour and other variations, but for diet restrictions with gluten and other things they don’t. Hope that helps 🙂
I need to try some variations with the flour ratios. Thanks for the tip!
And yes, definitely a great option for those looking for gluten free options.
Where in San Diego did you find the cookie dough?! I can’t find it anywhere!
Hi Cari, we received the cookie dough in the mail (on dry ice), but I believe I saw some in Sprouts recently. You may want to call and check with them. Good luck!