Mayonnaise (/ˌmeɪəˈneɪz/),[1] colloquially referred to as "mayo" (/ˈmeɪoʊ/),[2] is a thick, cold, and creamy sauce with a rich and tangy taste that is commonly used on sandwiches, hamburgers, composed salads, and French fries.

[3] Mayonnaise is an emulsion of oil, egg yolk, and an acid, either vinegar or lemon juice;[4] there are many variants using additional flavorings.

[9] According to Émile Littré, it may have come from Mahón, capital of Menorca, in the Balearic Islands, Spain, occupied by the British at the time and then conquered by the Duc de Richelieu in 1756.

Some have pointed out that it would make sense that mayonnaise originated in Spain given its requirement of olive oil, a liquid produced and consumed mostly there at the time.

In both cases, the base was oil, vinegar, salt, herbs, often other ingredients such as capers or anchovies, and then mustard; in short, it was an enriched vinaigrette.

[citation needed] In the early 18th century, Vincent La Chapelle had the idea of incorporating "velouté", based on roux, a mixture of flour and fat, to bind it.

"[23][non-primary source needed] In 1806, André Viard, in Le Cuisinier impérial, transformed this recipe for remoulade by replacing the roux with egg yolk.

[31] Alexandre Balthazar Laurent Grimod de La Reynière, a lawyer by qualification who acquired fame during the reign of Napoleon for his sensual and public gastronomic lifestyle, rejected the name mayonnaise because the word "is not French".

He also rejected the name mahonnaise because Port Mahon "is not known for good food", and thus he preferred bayonnaise, after the city of Bayonne, which "has many innovative gourmands and... produces the best hams in Europe.

This form would seem to be confirmed by the fact that there is no written record of the sauce à la mayonnaise before the beginning of the 19th century, long after the capture of the city of Mahón.

[37] A more controversial hypothesis, put forward by the linguist and historian Nicolas Lepreux, suggests that mayonnaise originated in the Mayenne region, and that the "e" would have changed into an "o" over time: the apocryphal story tells that the Duke of Mayenne, on the day before the Battle of Arques, overindulged on chickens seasoned with a remarkable sauce, so that the next day he fell off his horse and lost the battle.

Next dish your meat or fish, mask with the sauce before it be quite frozen, and garnish your dish with whatever you think proper, as beet root, jelly, nasturtiums, &c.[38]In an 1820 work, Viard describes something like the more familiar emulsified version: This sauce is made to "take" in many ways: with raw egg yolks, with gelatine, with veal or veal brain glaze.

[39]In February 1856, the Huddersfield Chronicle and West Yorkshire Advertiser published a recipe for homemade mayonnaise in a segment entitled "The Housewife's Corner."

This recipe included six egg yolks, half a bottle of olive oil (volume not otherwise defined) and one-half teaspoon of vinegar.

[41][42][page needed] A combination of van der Waals interactions and electrostatic repulsion determine the bond strength among oil droplets.

[45] For large-scale preparation of mayonnaise where mixing equipment is being employed, the process typically begins with the dispersal of eggs, either powdered or liquid, into water.

These must be totally hydrated and dispersed within a small liquid volume, which can cause difficulties including emulsion breakdown during the oil-adding phase.

[50][51] Egg-free imitations generally contain soya or pea protein as the emulsifying agent to stabilize oil droplets in water.

[52] Well-known brands include Nasoya's Nayonaise, Vegenaise and Just Mayo in North America, and Plamil Egg Free in the United Kingdom.

For example, sauce rémoulade, in classic French cuisine, is a mix of mayonnaise and mustard, gherkins, capers, parsley, chervil, tarragon, and possibly anchovy essence.

[citation needed] Guidelines issued in September 1991 by Europe's Federation of the Condiment Sauce Industries recommend that mayonnaise should contain at least 70% oil and 5% liquid egg yolk.

[66] The Kewpie company was started in 1925 by Tochiro Nakashima, whose goal was to create a condiment that made eating vegetables more enjoyable.

[73] The nutrient content of mayonnaise (> 50% edible oil, 9–11% salt, 7–10% sugar in the aqueous phase) makes it suitable as a food source for many spoilage organisms.

A set of conditions such as pH between 3.6 and 4.0, and low water activity aw of 0.925, restricts the growth of yeasts, a few bacteria and molds.

[74] Yeasts of the genus Saccharomyces, Lactobacillus fructivorans, and Zygosaccharomyces bailii are the species responsible for the spoilage of mayonnaise.

A study suggests that adding encapsulated cells of Bifidobacterium bifidum and B. infantis prolongs the life of mayonnaise up to 12 weeks without microorganism spoilage.

[76][77] In all salmonellosis cases, the major reason was inadequate acidification of the mayonnaise, with a pH higher than the recommended upper limit of 4.1, with acetic acid as the main acidifying agent.