Local salad dressing business set to release 7th flavor
East Troy, WI (October 13, 2014) – Ken and Kathy Taft have been making their natural salad dressings in Southeastern Wisconsin for eight years, and are gearing up to launch their seventh flavor, Sweet Amore, in a few weeks.
Sasha’s Salad Dressings has the best kind of origin story, because they were basically begged to bottle and sell the dressing after Kathy’s co-workers caught a whiff of her homemade dressing one day at lunchtime. That first dressing, Sweet and Savory, is still their best seller. Their second one, Sweet and Sultry, contains cayenne and red pepper.
Other flavors have clever names to go with their ingredients, too: Sweet Aloha has pineapple and lemon, Sweet and Dill-icious contains tomato and dill, and Sweet Ole combines roasted red pepper and garlic. The Tafts are happy to tell you that they hand-squeeze the lemons, slice the tomatoes, and chop the onions in their dressings, as well as source the tomatoes and onions locally when in season.
Also important to them is what’s not in their dressings: no emulsifiers, no preservatives. “Our dressing is gonna separate,” Ken Taft says, “but you just have to give it a shake.”
Their website, sashasdressings.com, includes descriptions of the dressings in addition to suggesting uses for them. The Tafts are proud to say that all of the dressings are gluten free and soy free. They use extra-virgin olive oil as the base, and carefully monitor their ingredients. When they wanted to use Worchester sauce in the dressings, Kathy diligently worked to develop her own vegan and gluten-free Worchester.
You’ll have a chance to sample and purchase these natural and inventive dressings at the Feast! Festival and Tradeshow in Rochester, Minnesota.
The Feast! Festival on Sunday, Nov. 2 is open to the public, and will be a great time to satisfy your curiosity for local foods. Visitors will be able to taste and purchase a variety of foods that are made throughout Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Iowa, and hear the stories behind the food. Admission is $5/adults and $2/children. There is an additional charge for sampling the local beer, wine, and hard cider.
The Tafts are energetic and love to talk about their dressings, as well as hear from customers. They’re excited about Feast! after hearing of some of the other exhibitors attending. “If they’re going to be there, we know it’s somewhere we want to be too!”
Rochester is a new area for them and they’re hoping to get into some more stores. “It opens up the possibility of getting our dressing out to different venues,” Ken said.
And that’s what he and Kathy have been working hard at since they went to their first farmer’s market with Sasha’s Dressings in 2006.
Following the Festival, the Tradeshow on Nov. 3 will offer an exclusive experience for exhibitors to network with buyers.
For more information about the Feast! Festival & Tradeshow, please visit www.local-feast.org. To keep in touch with the latest updates, like Feast! Local Food Network on Facebook, follow @Local_Feast on Twitter, and use #localFEAST to make sure your voice is heard.
Caption for attached photo: Ken Taft ready to talk about Sasha’s Salad Dressings at an Onalaska event in early 2014.