How to prevent buttermilk/yogurt salad dressings from becoming watery?

Some salad dressings contain yogurt and buttermilk (like creamtea's crunchy corn salad). After a while these dressings become very watery, making them poor keepers. Is there anything that will help prevent this - using full fat yogurt or Greek yoghurt etc etc?

david2308
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2 Comments

AntoniaJames
AntoniaJames June 4, 2012
Apart from Sarah's suggestion to keep salad and dressing separate as long as possible (because the salt in the dressing will draw out the veggies' juices), your suggestion to use Greek yogurt seems sound. It has already had some of the liquid drained from it. If you don't have Greek yogurt on hand, get a clean handkerchief or double layer of cheesecloth, soak it thoroughly in filtered water and put it in a colander over a bowl. Drain regular yogurt there for an hour or two, gently stirring once or twice. Save the whey for other uses, e.g., lacto-fermentation. ;o)
 
Reiney
Reiney June 4, 2012
Fat is an emulsifier so that will help (plus full fat yoghurt just tastes better anyway). But there's always going to be a bit of separation as time goes by - my 11% MF yoghurt always has a little pool of accumulation that I have to get rid of.

Best bet is to keep the salads and dressing separate for as long as possible, then tip out any excess water that accumulates before using the dressing.
 
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