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I cannot live without mustard-an oddity in our house that loves ketchup (honestly, blech. I can't stand that stuff. Good only as a tomato base in my barbecue sauce, and I working on changing even that. I may like a homemade one, but that is a whole different post...) and ranch dressing.
I don't know why it took me so long to track down and try a mustard recipe, but for whatever reason it did. This mustard is a yellow mustard, and thus, uses yellow mustard seed. I will be working on a brown mustard for the future. I took Alton Brown's Best Ever Mustard recipe and changed it to work with the way I like to cook-without the microwave and tried to substitute local ingredients where I could. Mustard is easy to grow in the garden, and many seed companies have started carrying different varieties, something I hope to look at this summer. The greens of most plants can be used as well, making it multipurpose, and the seed stores well. You just grind it up to use as you need it, and the fresh flavor cannot be rivaled by the preground nastiness you get at the store. For those of us who don't have our own homegrown seed to use for mustard, it can be affordably gotten at places like Penzey's Spices, or for an Iowa company, Frontier Herbs. The other spices needed can be gotten there as well, and honestly, if you are doing any serious cooking with *real* flavor around your place, you need to have them on hand, anyway :)
As a note, this goes so quickly, it is crazy *not* to just make your own at home. It is also a good use for the juice leftover from pickles, or maybe some pickled pepper juice for a little more kick. Up the honey content for a honey mustard, as well.
!Mustard!
2/3 c yellow mustard seed
2 t honey
1 t sea salt
1/2 t turmeric
1/4 t paprika (look for a post this fall about homemade paprika!)
1/4 t garlic powder (same here)
1/2 c pickle juice-Alton calls for sweet. We don't do sweet here, though the recipe we do use has some sweetener in it. I think the regular works just fine, and like I mentioned before you can easily play around here with other pickled items
1/4 c water
1/2 c vinegar-cider works, I used red wine as it is what I had on hand. I will most likely experiment more here, as well, as different vinegars will give a different undertone. Yum.
Grind the mustard seed in a grinder until it is completely ground-nice fine powder, about a minute.
In a separate bowl mix all the liquids and honey. Whisk them together well, then add to the dry ingredients in the saucepan.
Bring to a boil over low heat, whisking together as it heats, then cook 30 seconds. Turn 'er off, put your mustard in a lidded jar, and stick in the fridge. It should continue to thicken as it cools. If it isn't as thick as you like, bring it back up to a boil for another minute or so, and let it cool again. Be sure to make notes, so you can just cook it that long next time, though mine looked fine after the initial cooking. Can be used as soon as it cools just like any yellow mustard, but the taste is just so much better, and better yet, we know EXACTLY what is in it. Should store well in the fridge for at least a month, but with that much vinegar and the spices in it, will most likely keep until the jar is empty and mustard beckons again...
5 comments:
If I ever get my dream of having a big home garden I will grow a ton of herbs and I will make mustard from my own mustard plants.
In the mean time I am waiting to have my own place and when that time comes (hopefully soon) I will make my own condiments. Although Mayo is first on my list of new ones to try. We just don't eat enough mustard for me to want to make a lot. Maybe a mini batch is in order?
Oh boy my "what I am going to do when I get my own place" list is getting pretty long.
This makes less than a pint sized jar-may be a good place to start. I am also on the list for heeding to make some mayo. I plan on using Diana's post on here from a few months back.
The list never shortens, either :) We have the land0now we just keep getting more ideas and less time!
AWESOME! I have been meaning to make this since Christmas, I had looked around at several recipes, but yours looks great. I'm gonna do it. thanks so much for sharing :)
FWIW, years ago when I was talking to the lady from Denison IA that sells their homemade mustards at the farmer's market, she said she wasn't allowed to grow it here as a crop because it's a noxious weed. I didn't do any research or anything otherwise, just thought that was interesting to note. Let me know if you guys find out differently and end up growing some. :)
I know I've ordered it. I think it depends on the variety grown. Regular black mustard (mustard greens) is a noxious weed. I just don't plant it every year, as once you have, you get volunteers. Maybe on the scale she wanted to plant it, it was too much to be safe. For a backyard gardener, I wouldn't think it would be an issue. A matter of knowing beforehand that you must keep an eye and try to keep as much seed as possible off the ground and out of birds' mouths by using netting. Worth it for my own mustard!
I just stumbled upon your blog and now I can't wait to make my own mustard! Last night I watched Alton Brown's episode on pretzels and thought I would like to try his mustard recipe, but thought that I probably wouldn't, for whatever reason. But now I must try your recipe!
I'm also an instant fan since you bring up Frontier Herbs - where my husband worked a few years ago.
I'm very curious about your paprika post teaser. My husband uses it in EVERYTHING we have a running joke that his use of paprika is equal to my very generous use of vanilla.
Anyway, thanks for the recipe!
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