No, seriously, where has all the mayo gone?
Perhaps you are one of the lucky ones who have not (yet) been affected by the definite shortage of vegan mayonnaise that has perplexed the vegan community as of late.
For me it started about three months ago when I noticed the grocery store shelves that had always been lined with jars and jars of vegan mayonnaise start to dwindle.
Before my vegan days, I had been a Hellman’s brand loyal customer for my entire life until I went vegan in late 2016.
I thought my Mayo days were over until I discovered Hampton Creek and their JUST Mayo, vegan mayonnaise.
Then came the lawsuit from Hellman’s to Hampton Creek as they were claiming this new vegan mayo could not be labeled as “mayo” since there are no eggs in the recipe.
This gained mass media attention and eventually the lawsuit was dropped.
In the end, all it really did was make Hellman’s look bad and turned many people off from Hellman’s brands and Unilever Foods, as it was a clear bullying move on their part to try to stamp out what they knew would be a very lethal competitor to their #1 selling condiment.
You can read the entire article about the lawsuit here.
Fast forward to 2019 and Hampton Creek is now known as JUST Inc. and their products have expanded from the infamous Vegan Mayonnaise to a line of salad dressings including the most popular Ranch, Ceasar and Chipotle.
And now their newest and most proud creation (or so it seems) is JUST Egg.
An egg substitute that scrambles, tastes and looks just like real eggs!
So you can say JUST Inc. is making some major moves in the vegan food world!
You can imagine my disappointment when I found out recently about their ethics violation in regards to vegan labeling.
It turns out JUST Inc performed animal testing that was not mandatory, but optional and they chose to do it anyway.
So for me, this part of the “story” is relatively new news.
But for those people who banned Hellman’s for their ridiculous lawsuit, have now banned Just for their unethical practices under a vegan label.
Now back to the main issue of the case of the disappearing mayonnaise.
I really can’t say whether any of these legal and ethical bombshells have anything to do with the recent scarcity of the mayonnaise.
can it be a coincidence that the lab testing news came at the same time that virtually all JUST products (the mayo & the dressings) slowly started disappearing off the shelves and instead there was Hellman’s VEGAN in it’s place?
Yep, the same company that went after the little guy in an attempt to create laws stating that the only way a mayonnaise could be labeled as mayonnaise could be if it has eggs in the recipe, has now developed their own line of vegan mayo.
As the old saying goes: If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em!
Now I do love a good conspiracy and I would wage a bet to say there is something to this whole theory I have that Hellman’s could not let a sleeping dog lie, and has come back with a vengeance against JUST Inc. for this whole scandal in the first place, but maybe that’s just my skeptical nature.
It would actually make some sense (given the tactics several folks at Unilver & the American Egg Board were willing to take to stop Just in the first place) except that now Hellman’s Vegan Mayo is non existent as well!
There is surely something fishy going on with this whole story.
I contacted both Just Inc. & Hellman’s customer service departments asking if there was a reason I could not get the mayonnaise (or ranch dressing) anymore in all of the stores in my area (5 stores total that I typically shop all are out of stock!) and I was told by both companies almost the exact same statement:
“We are indeed still making and distributing the products, if you are no longer seeing it stocked in your grocery store this would be a store decision and you should contact the store manager for an answer.”
Hmmmmm…….
But the plot thickens: The supermarkets are now overflowing with pallets, and I mean literal pallets of non vegan Hellman’s.
So much so, that they are storing these giant towers of original style mayo at the ends of the aisles in my local Shop Rite because they just can’t fit it all on the shelves!
Sure, we are gearing up for outdoor cookouts and party food that typically consists of bowls and bowls of potato salads and macaroni salads all made with gobs and gobs of mayonnaise.
But why then is the Hellman’s vegan line completely eliminated too?
There has not been a Vegan Hellman’s jar for miles around and not only in my area (New Jersey) but several other people are claiming it has all disappeared from their grocery shelves in states all across the country!
So again, I’ll say there is definitely something fishy going on in the underground world of mayonnaise politics and it will be interesting to see how this all unfolds.
In the meantime I ain’t got time for this foolishness!
I NEED MY MAYO!
Goodbye Hellman’s & Just Inc.; it was nice knowing ya… I hope you figure out your little scuffle soon, but by then we will all be making own own mayonnaise and at a fraction of the cost too!
You Lose.
So here are 4 Awesome Recipes for Homemade Vegan Mayonnaise and you can choose which one you like the most!
Fat Free Potato Mayonnaise
- White Potato peeled, boiled, cooled 1 large potato approx 1 cup or 165g
- White or Apple Cider Vinegar Vinegar 1 teaspoon
- Dry Mustard ½ teaspoon
- Sugar pinch
- White Pepper pinch
- Salt *Kala namak for the egg taste ¼ teaspoon
- Water or Plant Milk as needed for creamy consistency
- Place all ingredients in a small blender or food processor and process smooth
- Adjust consistency with water or plant milk as desired
Tofu Mayonnaise Recipe
If you prefer olive oil it is totally fine, maybe try a blend if you feel the olive oil is too heavy
I'm using the Vegan Egg by Follow Your Heart for added thickness or you can use ½ teaspoon xanthan gum instead or leave both out completely.
- Silken Tofu ½ package 7oz
- Neutral Vegetable Oil ¾ cup
- Granulated Sugar 1 teaspoon
- Pink Sea Salt or *kala namak for that eggy taste ¼ teaspoon
- White Pepper pinch
- Vegan Egg by Follow Your Heart *optional see note above 1½ teaspoon
- Lemon Juice 1 teaspoon 1 teaspoon
- White Vinegar or Apple Cider Vinegar 1 teaspoon
- Dry Mustard ½ teaspoon
- Combine all ingredients except the oil in a small blender or food processor then slowly drizzle in the oil while blending to smooth
Store in the refrigerator in a clean container with a lid for up to 1 month
Aquafaba Mayonnaise Recipe
If you prefer olive oil it is totally fine, maybe try a blend if you feel the olive oil is too heavy
Im using the Vegan Egg by Follow Your Heart for added thickness or you can use ½ teaspoon xanthan gum instead or leave both out completely.
- Aquafaba (chickpea water) ¼ cup
- Dry Mustard ¼ teaspoon
- White Vinegar or Apple Cider Vinegar 1½ teaspoons
- Pink Sea Salt *or kala namak for the eggy taste ⅛ teaspoon
- Granulated Sugar 1½ teaspoon
- Neutral Vegetable Oil * see note above 1 cup
- Vegan Egg by Follow our Heart * see note above 2 teaspoon
- Place the aquafaba in a small blender or food processor (or use a hand held stick blender) and blend until thick and frothy
- Add the spices and seasonings and then slowly drizzle in the oil until thick and fully emulsified
Store in the refrigerator in a clean container with a lid for up to 1 month
Potato Protein Mayonnaise Recipe
If you prefer olive oil it is totally fine, maybe try a blend if you feel the olive oil is too heavy
For best results with the potato protein solution, be sure to use a water that has a pH of 7 CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION
- Potato Protein Isolate 1½ grams
- Distilled Water 50ml
- Baking soda tiny pinch
- Oil ½ cup
- White Pepper pinch
- White Vinegar or Apple Cider Vinegar 2 teaspoons
- Dry Mustard ⅛ teaspoon
- Pink Sea Salt *or kala namak for the eggy taste ¼ teaspoon
- Xanthan gum *optional ¼ teaspooon
- First prepare the potato protein by combing it with the water and pinch of baking soda (test pH for best results)
- Place the potato protein solution in a small blender or food processor (or use a hand held stick blender) and blend until thick and frothy
- Add the spices and seasonings and then slowly drizzle in the oil until thick and fully emulsified
Store in the refirgerator in a clean container with a lid for up to 1 month
Gretchen this is hilarious! I’m laughing as I’m reading this, because I feel your pain! Go to the store and where is all the flippin vegan mayo?!!!! I’m not a diehard and about to make my own haha, buuuuut I order off target online and get it shipped to my house! No fuss! Thought I would share 🙂
LOL thanks Rose! I mean… I’m not going to die about it, but it’s so annoying and I want to know the scoop! What is really going on with these companies! LOL
(Yes I also saw it online Target! THANKS!)
THANK YOU FOR THIS POST! Your words reflect my feelings and thoughts exactly on this whole fishy situation – definitely something else going on! Hellman’s (Best) has been readily available in Las Vegas but I’d really like to make it in house going forward. Do you have a favorite of these versions? I’d assume the tofu recipe is most like Veganaise. I made the aquafaba recipe but only used it for sandwiches. I’m wondering if any are better suited for potato salad/slaw or if they are likely to get watery or have separation issues? Thanks again!
Hi Alecia! Thanks, I’m glad you enjoyed my post, it is very lengthy and I know many people don’t like to read more than a few sentences, but this one is worth the read! If you want the video I show all the recipes being made AND my tastings and thoughts on each! I do love the Potato Protein one the best, but otherwise I would say Aquafaba all the way!! (feel free to add spices as you wish, I kept mine very basic with just the salt, pepper, vinegar and sugar. The egg replacer or xanthan is completely optional but will help with stabilizing somewhat *BUT it is not needed, I’ve done it both ways and the NON stabilized one was just as perfect!
I know getting potato protein isolate is practically impossible locally in the states but can we expect any recipes based on it from you? I know some people have had luck using it for soufflés. Maybe even angel food cake?
Hey thanks, yes I know it is not readily available, HOWEVER the company I am working with on the development of Vegan Egg Replacer (the plant based egg) by Freely Vegan may be able to distribute the potato protein! So YES I am definitely working on recipes using it, but have not baked with it yet!
I will be reporting back with blogs/videos as soon as I have some success to share!
That’s fantastic! I’m really happy there is finally a local source for this. It seems super cool, just impossible to get. I’d love to see your take on chocolate soufflé!
You are a GIFT FROM GOD!!!
Thank you SEW MUCH for sharing this! I love to read, and I have also called Just Mayo! The real conspiracy is more evil than you can imagine. It’s all about the #1 ingredient being used by UNILEVER…. SOYBEAN OIL! Even Hellman’s vegan in my area had SOYBEAN OIL! It is toxic, and blocks the bodies ability to uptake nutrients and it is ridden with Glyphosate, aka Agent Orange the chemicals the poured all over Vietnam. Trump has banned it in agriculture but it’s going to be a while before soybean oil will be good again. They never used to use soybean oil in Mayo until the past 15 years, it was always canola oil like just Mayo used. I cannot stand the taste of anything with soybean oil in it. So thank you again my lady!
Hey thanks for this added information! Someone else commented recently about the way Hellmans consistency also changed recently and it was due to the SOYBEAN OIL!! I have been reading much about this, and while it is appalling, it is sadly not surprising given the state of our world and the food system being hijacked for decades…
This looks so easy! I’d be honored if you shared this recipe (and any others) at our What’s for Dinner link party!
http://www.lazygastronome.com/whats-for-dinner-sunday-link-up-196/
Hi Helen, thanks! Sure how will I do that?
Thank you for this post!! I too am wondering where all the Just products have gone, and I still have a bad taste in my mouth from the legal action that was beginning to take shape against Hampton Creek by the egg industry. I still haven’t forgiven Target for dropping all their products.
They have gone missing in mid Michigan too just in time for Easter?
I just made the silken tofu one. My word, I’m never going back to store bought.
alright!!
I made the aquafaba mayo and it was super tasty! However, I’ve had a problem with it separating after a few days in the fridge. I can whip it back up with my immersion blender with no problems, but a few days later the oil separates again. Is this normal? Is there anything I can add to prevent this?
You can add some soy lecithin or xanthan gum, they are both emulsifiers and will help with that (about 1/2tsp)
Can Arrowroot be used instead of Xanthan gum and if so how much?
Arrowroot is typically interchanged with cornstarch and needs to be “activated” through cooking. I’m not quite sure it is going to do anything beneficial here. But the Xanthan gum is mainly a stabilizer in cold prep dishes. SO I would just leave it out completely
We are in NW suburbs of Chicago and every major grocery store has been out of any vegan mayo for months!! And like you’ve found, pallets and pallets of regular egg mayo fill the aisles. I smell a conspiracy as well, it would not surprise me whatsoever. I can only find Veganaise at local health stores, which taste-wise I prefer but it is more expensive.
Glad to see I’m not crazy but, frankly, this mayo crisis blows. Shame on the-powers-that-shouldn’t-be for trying to put a damper on the vegan train. Sorry old boys, you can’t stop the fire!
exactly!
I have called “Just” twice and emailed them and was given the same story, “We are ramping up production and it should be back on the shelves in the coming weeks”. The first call was about 4 months ago, the second call and email a month ago. Hellman’s also vanished just after Just did but is now back on store shelves, I am in Martinsburg, WV. The testing on animals sounds fishy. Considering what Hellman’s and the egg board have done to try and put Just out of business it’s probably a rumor they started.
Those allergic to nightshades are not able to eat any potato protein. Just Mayo was a game changer and tasted so good. My daughter can’t eat many things and that brand was pea protein based. Plus it tasted amazing! I don’t have tons of food allergies and I loved it. It is getting very difficult to find, in fact impossible in my area. It used to be everywhere. So sad!!! My daughter was just told by a manager at a Whole Foods store that it has been discontinued. I can’t believe it. So many people with allergies were depending on and loving those products!
I find that we with food allergies are treated like “disposables” just because we aren’t part of the privileged majority. They only care about the majority. They are greedy and making millions off of some of us by preventing us from getting the variety and balanced meal we need. I need Watercrest. It doesn’t exist where I live. Vegetables are not fresh enough for my condition. I react to Vinegar, most legumes, most nightshades, meats, poultry, quinoa, hemp, cinnamon, mustard, histamine intolerance and alcohol. I probably missed something! Oh yeah, with hypothyroidism, I have to limit cruciferous vegetables or risk goiters. I’m supposed to limit the nuts I eat. This made me struggle to get protein in my diet. My sister reacts by smell to Fish, which is why I went Vegan. She lives with me. I wanted to be Vegan since I was 3 years old. If I were to honor my histamine-intolerance and have more variety, I’d have to eat fish and eggs, carrots, potatotes, ginger, zucchini, pistachios and lettuces. That would be it. I felt more symptom free as a Vegan. I prefer Vegan Japanese, Italian and Indian cuisines.
Thanks for posting these! I have to make my own Mayo (which I’m happy to do) and am thankful for these recipes! Sure, I have to modify the recipe and leave off the mustard and vinegar. I thought that I’d never get Mayo again, but now that I know how easy it is to make this, I’ll make my own soon.
After months of searching Chicago stores where I’ve purchased Just Mayo in the past, I finally googled “where’s just mayo” and “where’s vegan mayo” and see that it’s not my imagination! Thanks for the info and recipes! Totally done with Target; the store near me no longer carries Earth Balance butter either, grrr.
Any updates on the Just Mayo products? I love their Sriracha one!! I cannot seem to find either any place. My local Wal-mart grocery received some in May. Bought three bottles of it. They are out again. The lady stocking the shelves scanned the code. She said it on order but they are out at the company’s warehouse. Amazon is also out.
I still cannot find it, however Hellmans (vegan) started showing up again in my local ShopRite
Here is my two cents. Hellman’s vegan version separates right after you use it. Yuk! I will try the recipes above..thanks for that! It is disturbing to find eating healthy has these ridiculous food giants making once more decisions we never asked to be made on our behalf…sad…and no thanks I will make mayo for my family. We are plant based eaters 2 years strong now….geez can’t even short cut mayo….
yes I agree! It has been doing that to me lately too!
Not vegan here, but I have an egg white allergy(lot of food allergies, actually) and yeah. Only vegan/egg-free mayo I can find here that doesn’t have my allergens in them right now is the ‘Follow Your Heart’ ones and they don’t taste nearly as good as the JUST ones.
Been missing/AWOL for months here in Las Vegas and when my dad asked the store/manager for that section of the store they said they haven’t been able to get it in, so yeah. I’d say something is definitely up there fishy wise on that.
Thanks for this!!! Thought I was losing my mind trying to find vegan mayo on the shelves. Not a fan of the Nayonaisse or Follow Your Heart versions and the Ojai and Sir Kensignton’s are too pricey for the size and that’s all that’s out there. On the homemade front, for those making aquafaba mayo, the aquafaba freezes beautifully. Whenever I open a can of garbanzos I pour the liquid into an ice cube tray. Then when I want to whip up some homemade vegan mayo viola! Let’s create our own shelf stable vegan mayo to put back on market shelves!! Who’s with me? Gretchen?
Me!!! we can’t trust on the big companies, let’s do it together, we can make a big change!!
Just is my fav vegan mayo hands down and it was gone here as well. I heard something about them focusing more on the just egg product that was coming out and then they would resume the mayo lines again.. idk how true that is but it had been gone months here as well and then a month ago I picked one up at Walmart and now again every that normally carried it has none? Though over here the whole time the Hellman’s had their vegan version which I do not like at all. Ugh :/
Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!!! I too have noticed the lack of vegan mayo! I went from seeing aisles at every grocery store to absolutely NO options at Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, ShopRite, Stop & Shop…Not even Hellman’s vegan mayo (which I refuse to buy for the reason you mentioned above)!! It’s insane!!
Happening here in Illinois, thought I was going crazy! Just Mayo simply disappeared from ALL my stores!! I dont tolerate soy well so I’ll find a simple ingredient recipe for making my own. Thanks for this info!
WORD! Can’t find it anywhere right now!
If a company culls, they don’t get my business, straight up. Whether they make a vegan mayo or not. Swing and a miss, Hellmans.
It’s back! Just picked some up at my local Wal-Mart here in Central Florida.
Thank you for this article. I, too, thought I was going crazy when all the vegan mayo jars began “disappearing”. It must be business politics and The Egg Board interference. Well, they don’t realize, just because they take it off the shelves, doesn’t mean we’re going back to eating eggs. VEGANS ARE HERE TO STAY!
Thanks for making this article as I felt confused for the same reasons! I was a die hard Just Mayo fan! The politics behind it all is so complicated when all I want is just mayo!
I stumbled across this while looking for a vegan mayo reciope. Here in Denver there is still zero vegan Hellmans or Just Mayo. None at any store, and i’ve checked at least 25 stores over the months and at this point i’ve quit looking. I have defaulted to my old tried and true Follow Your Heart Vegenaise, but of course the price tag on this mayo is insanely high so it looks like its time to start making it myself.
Can’t seem to get Just Mayo in Oregon anymore, this is very frustrating. We have egg allergies and Just Mayo was a godsend. Also, the Sriracha Just Mayo was amazing, but seems to have been discontinued as soon as we discovered it and started to buy it on a regular basis. The Just website is terrible to try to navigate and doesn’t provide a lot of info or insights into what is going on with their products. Thanks for posting about this, it’s nice to know we are not alone at least. Maybe we’ll try some of the homemade vegan mayo recipes.
Oh, I found this article comparing the “Just” company to Theranos, yikes: https://observer.com/2019/02/just-inc-mayonnaise-controversies-theranos-comparison/
Seems like the Just company has some major issues. 🙁
Why was my comment deleted? I commented that I told the person at Just that whoever is running the company should be fired and now that comment is no longer here
I’m not sure, but I’m seeing this one here came through even without me having to moderate it, hmmm…
I personally liked this eggless mayonnaise. Please share more recipes of mayonnaise.
My husband and I have bee searching for Hampton Creek’s Just Mayo, or Just Inc.’s Just Mayo for more than 18 months at local groceries, co-ops and on-line. None available, unless you want to pay over $25 for a small jar! I’ve read many articles about this debacle, but there have been no satisfactory answers to ‘Where’s the mayo?’. We loved Just, Inc.’s Just Mayo. Hellman’s Vegan Mayo is okay, but doesn’t compare to Just Mayo! We haven’t tried Just, Inc.’s other products – I want my Mayo!
Thank you for the recipes. I think I’ll try the boiled potato one – reminds me of
Greek skordalia!
Did you try the cashew one? I love it! So happy that you have become vegan! ??
I have not tried that one! and yes me toooooo! 🙂
Very interesting politicking going on.
i can still get the pricey Vegenaise online from Veganessentials, but finally found the much cheaper and really good Just Mayo. I used to get Just Mayo 30oz original for a little more than $3 from Walmart online with no trouble, then it bounced up to $4.50 last January, and then it vanished by Spring when I was looking for more as my supply dwindled. As of December 2019, I still can’t find it online except at impossible prices.
Amazon has Best Foods (which is Hellman’s) 30oz eggless vegan dressing on prime delivery, so I had to switch to that. It’s ok, reasonably close to Just Mayo, but I prefer the old Just Mayo and keep sporadically searching for an online source (no car and can’t sit at the moment, so can’t just go off searching to see if Walmart has it in-store). The price on Amazon for the Best Foods is like the old Just Mayo: $3.59 last October, but it’s close to $3 on subscribe and save now.
My local grocery store briefly had Hellman’s/Best Foods and Vegenaise on the shelf in smaller containers, but both of those vanished a long time ago before it was bought by a new regional chain. They did have 12oz Just Mayo salad dressings available on sale in discount carts last year, but those came from other stores in the chain and were not regular. Maybe I’m their only customer with an egg and dairy allergy… Kraft has some egg-free dressings such as their creamy Italian, but nothing beats Just Mayo.
Has the formula for the original Just Mayo changed drastically? I saw one nutritional label for the rare beast that indicates 90 calories per tablespoon (which is what the Best Foods one has), but I’m sure my old Just Mayo was 60 calories per tablespoon. It didn’t taste as though it needed more fat, so what is going on there? Was the info I saw just wrong or maybe for flavored ones? That’s a 50% increase in calories, which is very odd.
I experienced the same thing with the Just brand!!! It is upsetting they animal tested as one of the owners works for the humane society usa. I did finally get some just mayo from walmart finally.
What?! In 2020?? Online or in store? I haven’t seen ANY Just, Inc. products (other than their cursed Just Egg) for well over a year. I LOVED the mayo and ranch (and the cookie dough). Please tell me they are coming back!
I was lucky enough to grab two large jars of JUST Mayo earlier in the year. I’m now down to 1/3 of the contents of the second jar. 🙁 So I recently went looking for a replacement. I found one lone jar of Hellman’s Vegan Mayo on my local grocery store’s shelf and snapped it up. But the color looked funny to me so I went online to see reviews for it. Lo and behold, the Hellman’s site had a slew of recent one-star reviews (hellmanns.com/us/en/products/organic-vegan/vegan-dressing-spread.html).
Apparently, Hellman’s former version was made with soybean oil and that was well-reviewed. Now the recent reviews, including one from four hours ago as I write this, say some variation of the fact that the new version with sunflower oil is downright disgusting.
Here’s where it gets weird and adds another wrinkle to the tale in your post above. When I researched Hellman’s about a week ago, there were a bunch of responses to the one-star comments, which were written by Hellman’s customer service reps. They basically pasted the same thing in response to most of the one-star comments (paraphrased): In an effort to make the mayo healthier, they changed the formula. But they acknowledged that people like the old version so they were going to reformulate it and put it back out on the market. The first customer service response to that effect went back about two months so they had made the reformulation decision at that point.
Excited that there might finally be an end to all this mayo drama, I wrote to Hellman’s asking when they would have the new version in stores. It took four days but they finally answered me and said that they don’t know when they will have it back in stores. SO, I went back to their site just to see if they had stated the same thing there. I don’t know if it was in response to my reaching out to them about it but every customer service comment saying they were going to rerelease the product had been removed. Bizarre.
So homemade it is! LOL I’m looking forward to trying your tofu-based recipe.
Quick question: I assume that 7 oz. of silken tofu is needed for the tofu-based recipe. Right before 7 oz. it says “1/2 package.” Since I looked online and couldn’t find a 7 oz. package of which I would use half, I assume you mean that 7 oz. is to be used. So sorry if this is a stupid question!
Thanks for the research you did on this topic. Great post!
Hey great info! thanks for sharing! Very interesting about the soybean oil and something that I have been giving consideration to -like – YESTERDAY!! I just watched THIS VIDEO about that topic!! SKIP TO 3:18 in the video
yes to 7oz which is about 1/2 package (I sometimes make things more confusing by giving people multiple measuring options (for those that have no scale… 7oz is “about 1/2 package)
What interesting synchronicity that I posted that comment when you were already thinking about soybean oil.
I watched the video. What a drag that soybean oil makes mayo that tastes so good. I guess Hellman’s was trying to do the right thing by changing the formula. Too bad it didn’t work.
Thanks for the clarification about the 7 oz. 🙂