Homemade: Mustard

I must admit, I’ve made a lot of things in my time, but until a few weeks ago, mustard wasn’t one of them. To be honest, I had never even thought about making mustard until I read about fellow blogger Robin (aka The Gardener of Eden) making several different mustards last December. I was intrigued, and I decided to buy some mustard seeds and try my hand at making some myself. I bought both brown and yellow seeds, then I pretty much forgot all about making mustard with them!

I was reminded again a few weeks ago when Robin started making mustard again. This time I sprang into action, and made a batch of Spicy Brown Mustard that very day. The recipe from Leeners can be found here. I modified this recipe a bit, grinding the yellow and brown mustard from the whole seeds I had on hand. Then I put it in a glass jar and let it start aging. The recipe says to age it for at least two weeks in a cool dark place. The aging mellows the heat of the mustard powder.

ground yellow and brown mustard seeds (click on any image to enlarge)

After two weeks, the mustard has mellowed quite a bit though it still has a kick to it, and it has a great taste. It also has a slightly grainy consistency and a lovely rustic look. It will be great for sandwiches, especially slathered on some crusty homemade bread.

Spicy Brown Mustard

Encouraged by how well the Great Mustard Making Experiment was progressing, I decided to make another batch. After looking at a lot of recipes, I settled on this recipe for Dijon Mustard. The recipe calls for white wine as a liquid, and cooking the mustard until it thickens, which tames the heat somewhat. I used a modest Pinot Grigio for the wine. And I also ground the seeds instead of using dry mustard.

It has been in the refrigerator for about a week now. The taste is developing nicely, though I believe I would have been better off using a different wine, or a different recipe. It could be that the taste will continue to improve with time, so I will let it age another week or two before I pass the final judgment on it.

Dijon Mustard

All in all, I’m pleased with the results. I’ve got two pints of homemade mustard, and they were both pretty quick and fun to make. And now I can add mustard making to my resume! I plan on continuing to experiment, though I need to buy some more yellow mustard seed since I used up all that I bought. Who knew that making mustard was so easy?