PALESTINE, Ill. (WTWO/WAWV) — The famous Mullen’s ‘Blue’ French dressing will now be hard to come by as the last batch has been made.
The owner of Mullen’s is addressing the reason behind why the ‘Blue’ French dressing is not being made anymore. It has more to do with the ‘Green’ dressing being the original recipe and the blue dressing had to be made due to strict FDA regulations back in the 1950’s.
“It’s not the original, it was causing a lot of confusion it really was,” said Penny Shaw, owner and president of Mullen’s. “I really think that if John Mullens was here, he would say why are you making the blue and the green? he would just say my intention was always the green it was never the blue so just make the original.”
It all has to do with the oil content. The ‘Green’ French dressing only contains 19 percent of oil which the FDA did not consider true French dressing back then, however, since 2022 the FDA has since changed guidelines to where oil contents do not matter. Meaning Mullen’s doesn’t have to have an imitation French dressing and a real one, they can just make the real true, dressing.
They made their last batch of the blue dressing last week, 170 gallons of it. Although the ‘Green’ dressing is preferred for most, she says that there are some loyal ‘Blue’ fans out there that will miss it.
“We have some available and I think it is still in some stores, but once it is sold out it will be sold out. We may do an occasional batch now and again like for Christmas or something like that because we do have some ‘Blue’ fans and we don’t want to disappoint them or anything,” said Shaw.
In a time where traditions are being lost and forgotten; the owner of Mullen’s wants to stay true to the recipes, the location, and the reason behind this all.
“It’s special to Palestine so it’s really important to just keep it here, and to keep it made here with the same ingredients, the same way we have been doing it for over 75 years, that’s important.”
Although the blue dressing will not be made anymore Mullen’s dressing is set to have a new gluten free balsamic vinaigrette in glass bottles set to hit shelves later this month. You can learn more about the history and upcoming dressings here.
