Natural Ranch Dip and its Enemies

Mikey LOVES ranch dip. But when I looked at the back of the packaged dry Ranch Dip it contains IN ORDER: Maltodextrin, salt, monosodium glutamate, dried onion, spices, dried garlic, carrageenan, calcium stearate, buttermilk.
Ummmm....
EEEEEWWW. So much for homemade..
Ok. The only things I recognized was salt, dried onion, and buttermilk. Yes, it said 'spices' but that could mean any thing. I want to know WHAT spices?
Ok, Im not trying to get on a soap box or anything, but let me just fill you in on what those "other" ingredients are.
MALTODEXTRIN: Dextrins find widespread use in industry, due to their non-toxicity and their low price. They are used as water-soluble glues, as thickening agents in food processing, and as binding agent in pharmaceuticals. In pyrotechnics, they are added to fire formulas, allowing them to solidify as pellets or "stars." Cyclodextrins find additional use in analytical chemistry as a matrix for the separation of hydrophobic substances, and as excipients in pharmaceutical formulations. Not all forms of dextrin are digestible, and indigestible dextrin is sometimes used in fiber supplements.
For example, maltodextrin either can be moderately sweet or have hardly any flavor at all. Maltodextrin is a polysaccharide that is used as a food additive. It is produced from starch and is usually found as a creamy-white hygroscopic powder. Maltodextrin is easily digestible, being absorbed as rapidly as glucose. The CAS registry number of maltodextrin is 9050-36-6.
Maltodextrin can be derived from any starch. In the US, this starch is usually rice, corn or potato; elsewhere, such as in Europe, it is commonly wheat. This is important for coeliacs, since the wheat-derived maltodextrin can contain traces of gluten. There have been recent reports of coeliac reaction to maltodextrin in the United States. This might be a consequence of the shift of corn to ethanol production and its replacement with wheat in the formulation.
Foods containing maltodextrin may contain traces of amino acids, including glutamic acid as a manufacturing by-product.
Monosoduim glutamate: Monosodium glutamate as a food ingredient is the subject of a health concern controversy. Monosodium glutamate, sodium glutamate, flavour enhancer 621, EU food additive code: E621, HS code: 29224220 (IUPAC name 2-aminopentanedioic acid. Also known as 2-aminoglutaric acid), commonly known as MSG, Ajinomoto, Vetsin, or Accent, is a sodium salt of glutamic acid. MSG is a food additive and it is commonly marketed as a "flavour enhancer. The warning is that MSG may be harmful to certain groups of people (in much the same way products with aspartame have a warning for phenylketonurics). FDA has not yet taken action on the petition.
CARRAGEENANS are large, highly flexible molecules which curl forming helical structures. This gives them the ability to form a variety of different gels at room temperature. They are widely used in the food and other industries as thickening and stabilizing agents. A particular advantage is that they are pseudoplastic — they thin under shear stress and recover their viscosity once the stress is removed. This means that they are easy to pump but stiffen again afterwards.
There are three main commercial classes of carrageenan:
Kappa — strong, rigid gels. Produced from Kappaphycus cottonii
Iota — soft gels. Produced from Eucheuma spinosum
Lambda — form gels when mixed with proteins rather than water, used to thicken dairy products. The most common source is Gigartina from Southern Europe.
Many red algal species produce different types of carrageenans during their developmental history. For instance, the genera Gigartina produces mainly Kappa carrageenans during its gametophytic stage, and Lambda carrageenans during its sporophytic stage. See Alternation of generations.
All are soluble in hot water, but in cold water only the Lambda form (and the sodium salts of the other two) are soluble.
When used in food products, carrageenan has the EU additive E-number E407 or E407a when present as "Processed eucheuma seaweed". After harvest, the seaweed is dried, baled, and sent to the carrageenan manufacturer. There the seaweed is ground, sifted to remove impurities such as sand, and washed thoroughly. After treatment with hot alkali solution (e.g. 5-8% potassium hydroxide), the cellulose is removed from the carrageenan by centrifugation and filtration. The resulting carrageenan solution is then concentrated by evaporation. It is dried and ground to specification.
Desserts, ice cream, milk shakes, sauces — gel to increase viscosity
Beer — clarifier to remove haze-causing proteins
Pâtés and processed meat — Substitute fat to increase water retention and increase volume
Toothpaste — stabilizer to prevent constituents separating
Fire fighting foam — thickener to cause foam to become sticky
Shampoo and cosmetic creams — thickener
Air freshener gels
Marbling -- the ancient art of paper and fabric marbling uses a carrageenan mixuture to float paints or inks upon; the paper or fabric is then laid on it, absorbing the colors.
Shoe polish — gel to increase viscosity
Biotechnology — gel to immobilize cells/enzymes
Pharmaceuticals — used as an inactive excipient in pills/tablets
Carrageenan has also been used to thicken skim milk, in an attempt to emulate the consistency of whole milk. This usage did not become popular. It's used in some brands of soy milk
It is also added to Sexual Lubircants.
CALCUIM STEARATE : Additive for PVC Pipe manufacture, mould release agent in Plastics, stabilizer in Vinyl resins, flatting agent in paints and coatings, water repelling agent for a wide variety of products, lubricant in rigid and plasticised compounds, facilitates extrusions and mould flow of numerous plastics compounds, increases transparency if used in combination with cadmium stearate, clarity increases in unpigmented PVC and Polystyrene compound.

So I looked up some recipes for homemade ranch dip. I tried a few, but came up with this by combining several different recipes.
I made it, put it in a freezer bag, and it should keep for a bit. (in our house it will last about 2 weeks.)

Mikey loved my version of his "ranch" dip. He said it tasted so fresh and light, but had alot of flavor.

RANCH DRESSING or DIP
1/4 c. powdered buttermilk
3 tbs dried minced onions
3 tbs minced dried parsley
1 tbs dried minced chives
1 tbs dried dill
1 tbs tarragon
1 tsp salt
2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp ground celery seed
1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
Place all ingredients in a covered jar or what I use: sealed plastic freezer bag.
Mix well.
Store until ready to use.

For Ranch Dressing:
Combine 2 tbs of mix to 1/2 cup milk and 1/2 cup mayonnaise or what I use: 1/2 cup sour cream*.
For Ranch Dip:
Add 2 tbs to sour cream*.
I use all natural mayo or mine and Mikes fave - sour cream. (I am working on creating homemade mayo as I have come across several recipes.) (But as of right now I have 2 big jars of store bought, and don't like it much anyway.)
It should only contain ingredients that you recognize.
Yes, it does have more calories, however, the NON FAT was only 20 calories less than the all natural sour cream. AND it contained more ingredients that I never heard of!!! Milk was very far down on the list. Where as my sour cream is skim milk, cream and enzymes*.
*All living cells contain enzymes. Some are called "food" enzymes. Enzymes provided by the pancreas are called "digestive" enzymes. Food enzymes are designed to digest damaged cells. We see the results of this activity when a cut apple turns brown. Digestion is the systematic disassembly of tissue into the basic building blocks that are common to all living things. This is accomplished by enzymes that engage the food particle at a precise location and "unlatch" the particle so that it separates into two parts, somewhat like a key in a lock. The enzyme is not consumed, but is available to repeat the process over and over. This digestion process continues by the action of other enzymes until the digestion is complete. This process may require the operation of hundreds of different enzymes in order to accomplish the digestion of one food.