Grandma's Recipes: Honey Dressing

This is another recipe from my Grandmother's collection. It is written on one of those printed recipe cards that we all gave her for Christmas when we were kids. I would guess this is from sometime in the seventies.

As written:

Honey Dressing
from: "The Forks" - Pemberville *

2 T onion juice (or 1 small onion)
2 t celery seed
1 t salt
1 t mustard
1 1/2 c sugar
1 c vinegar
2 c oil

Beat at high speed in blender until thick.

Onion juice. I read this and vaguely remember seeing bottles of onion juice as a kid. Here is a great post on the Mark Bittman website written by John Thorne of Outlaw Cook. John has done all the research you need to know about onion juice. Having read his taste test recommendations, I would strongly suggest the small onion route.

Celery seed, salt and sugar would all be the same things we use today.

Mustard is most likely dry mustard. It is possible it bottled in which case it would be a standard yellow mustard.

The vinegar in Grandma's kitchen would be a gallon jug of cider vinegar.

The oil would be a vegetable oil, perhaps the Wesson oil she mentions by name in other recipes.

I don't recall Grandma having a blender. Which is funny because the box in which I have her recipes is from a blender!

* This recipe says it is from "The Forks" restaurant in Pemberville, Ohio. Pemberville is a small town not too far from where I grew up. In the seventies and eighties we would go there for dinner on occasion. I do not recall anything called a honey dressing on the menu. I remember a celery seed dressing from a different place we went to about the same time. The food was good traditional Midwestern fare. Quality at a decent price.

The restaurant is located on the Portage River. We always parked in the back and walked up the very narrow paneled stairs to the entrance. The first time we went in the front door I was very much surprised to discover it had a bar. I'd never noticed it from the back! I always assumed that the name of the restaurant came from silverware. While trying to research it, I discovered that "the forks" was a historical reference to this particular area of the Portage River. My current assumption is that the name comes from there.

The Forks restaurant is still in existence according to the internet. The link to the website doesn't work today and there are few reviews.