by Melissa Reiss, Purchasing Assistant
If you’re a fan of salads, you probably already love the fresh, certified organic salad dressings from Minnesota’s Salad Girl that are found in our Produce department. This past March marked fifteen years of business, and they are celebrating all year long. I recently caught up with Pam Powell—Salad Girl herself—to chat all things Salad Girl.
Tell me about how Salad Girl got started.
When I was 15 years old I began my first job in the food industry working for the summer in a small resort kitchen up in northern Minnesota. I started out as a dishwasher, and with hard work and luck by the end of the summer I was promoted to being the Salad Girl! That summer was the beginning of my love affair with making salads!
My fresh food prep skills always allowed me a steady income while attending art school, and then working as a freelance artist. In the ’80s my husband Jim and I ran an organic and natural foods catering company to make ends meet. My favorite part of catering was of course designing a beautiful seasonal salad accompanied by a uniquely flavored fresh seasonal dressing. The dressings became a hit at the parties, and soon folks began to request extra bottles of dressing. That is when I began to dream of someday bringing my own line of freshly made, (not cooked) uniquely flavored certified organic salad dressings into the marketplace.
In 2007, my dream came true and our new little salad dressing company came into fruition. We named it Salad Girl in honor of my first job in the food industry, and now, 15 years later, Salad Girl is proudly on the refrigerated produce shelves of every co-op here in the Midwest.
What makes Salad Girl unique?
We designed our dressings to be made fresh and refrigerated, not cooked like all of the shelf-stable bottled dressings. Salad Girl is made only with the finest and freshest organic ingredients, and then sustainably processed in a cold-blending method (using a big whisk and cold kettle) instead of thermal processing them. This cold-blended method maintains the nutriment of the organic ingredients as well as preserving our fresh, homemade, just-whisked flavor!
Do you have a personal favorite dressing out of your lineup?
I am definitely a seasonal foodie so I purposely designed each flavor with special seasonal usage in mind. Salad Girl’s Lemony Herb vinaigrette lends itself perfectly as a light and fresh tangy marinade with my asparagus, as a dipping sauce for my artichoke leaves, and to drizzle upon a beautiful spring salad full of radishes, fresh peas, pea shoots, paper-thin rings of vidalia onion, ramps, sugar snap peas…
For Summer salads, I am in love with fresh berries and greens so of course our Blueberry Basil dressing shines, and of course there is no such thing as a slaw without Salad Girl’s Sweet & Sassy dairy-free creamy dressing!
I could go on and on but you can also see what I love in season all year round by going to saladgirl.com.
Anything new in the works that you can share with our readers?
We are in the process of switching out the local honey in more of our flavors to satisfy the growing need for more vegan options.
Thank you to Pam for your time, and congratulations on your fifteenth anniversary of Salad Girl!
Please enjoy this recipe that Pam shared with us—perfect for the beginning of local produce season.
Easy Peasy Salad
Serves 4
4 oz. salad greens
1 c. radishes, sliced into half moons (purple radishes preferred; can also use salad turnips)
1 c. sugar snap peas, diagonally sliced
1 c. carrots, match-stick cut
1 c, pea shoots
1/2 c. roasted and salted sunflower seeds
1 c. feta or chevre cheese, crumbled—look for local!
A Salad Girl dressing of your choice. Suggestions: Lemony Herb, Citrus Splash, Pomegranate Pear
Directions: Arrange greens upon a salad plate, bowl, or pretty platter, sprinkle with cheese, decorate with sugar snap peas, carrots, pea shoots, radishes, and sunflower seeds. Drizzle with salad dressing. Enjoy!
For more recipes, head over to saladgirl.com.