Willy Wonka of Salads Brings Chocolate Chip, Mac N’ Cheese and PB&J-Flavored Dressings

May 13, 2014 -- Chocolate chip and mac n’ cheese are certainly different flavors from your average salad dressing--or are they? SaladShots, a new salad dressing company, would have you thinking otherwise.

Founder and CEO Adam Rubin set out to innovate dressing after getting bored by the standard options.

“When you walk down the salad dressing aisle in a supermarket, it’s just overwhelming. All the dressings are variations on honey mustard, ranch and vinaigrettes,” Rubin said. “From the flavor perspective I wanted to really reinvent this idea that dressing is something that can be really fun as opposed to something that is just a watery complement to salad.”

Rubin, along with research & development director and executive chef Matt Janney, set out to develop flavors that are familiar to consumers, but a little more adventurous.

“The chocolate chip is really a chocolate cranberry balsamic dressing. Our mac n’ cheese is really a cheesy ranch,” he said.

Janney recommends pairing them with foods accordingly. Just like you might drizzle balsamic on a tomato salad, Janney said the chocolate chip complements those flavors well. He likened the PB&J to a Thai peanut satay that pairs well with a grilled chicken salad, minus the Asian flavors of sesame oil and garlic, with a slight sweetness and acidity from the strawberry jelly to balance it out. And the mac n’ cheese flavor is like a cheesy ranch for wedge salads and dipping vegetable sticks.

Rubin stressed that the company isn’t just about flavor gimmick--it uses all-natural ingredients to back the bizarre concepts.

“We use fantastic quality ingredients that we source across the country,” he said. “Everything I do is sort of built around this concept of fun and healthy. I want to take this approach – which is a little different to most things you see in the healthy and natural category – of more focused on the taste profile. You don’t have to sacrifice comfort foods or things you really desire to still maintain a healthy lifestyle.”

The salad dressings won’t be available for another four months, so until then, you’re stuck with plain old ranch.