Friday, August 14, 2009

Mustard

Homemade mustard is so good and sooooo easy that once you make it, you'll never want to buy it again. The best part is that you can make endless variations and flavours of mustard.

There are two kinds of mustard seeds that can be found at a health food store/online. I bought mine at mountainroseherbs.com.
These are:
The Yellow seeds (milder)
brown or black seeds (spicier than the yellow ones)

The "Chemistry" behind:
Mustard seeds aren't hot, and neither is mustard powder. But when the crushed seeds or powder is mixed with cold water, a chemical reaction occurs as the seeds' cells release enzymes and other compounds that create the pungency. Within ten to fifteen minutes it will reach its peak pungency, from where it will start to decline. At this point an acidic ingredient, such as grape juice, lemon or lime juice, vinegar, beer, cider or wine is added to stabilise the pungency and stop it in its tracks. If you were to add a hot liquid to the paste, the enzymes creating the hot taste will be destroyed. Once the essential oils have formed, other ingredients can be added to enhance the taste, such as salt, honey, sugar, pepper corns, tarragon, turmeric (for colour), garlic, pepper, dill, paprika, chillies, thyme, etc.

A basic rule in mustard making is to avoid contact between the mustard paste and aluminium. Vinegar, wine or other acidic materials can leach metal molecules from aluminium pans, so use only plastic, glass, enamelled or stainless steel utensils for making your mustards. For storage and ageing of mustards, use only sterilised glass jars with tight fitting plastic or enamelled-lined lids.

Spicy Mustard

2 Tbsp yellow mustard seeds
1 tsp brown mustard seeds
1 1/2 Tbsp water
Grind the mustard seeds into a powder with a spice grinder.
Mix hte above 3 ingredients into a thick paste and let it sit for about 10 minutes.
Now to this add the following spices:

1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp turmeric
1/4 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp allspice
2 Tsp apple cider vinegar (or any of your favorite vinegar: white vinegar, white wine vinegar, red wine vinegar, balsamic vinegar)

Add some more vinegar if you want a thinner mustard.
Fill this up in a glass jar and let sit out of the fridge for at least a week before eating.

Sweet mustard
2 Tbsp yellow mustard seeds
1 1/2 Tbsp water
Grind the mustard seeds into a powder with a spice grinder.
Mix the above 2 ingredients into a thick paste and let it sit for about 10 minutes.

Add about
1/4 tsp salt
1Tbsp or more honey
Enough apple cider vinegar to make the desired consistence vinegar.
Add some more vinegar if you want a thinner mustard.
Fill this up in a glass jar and let sit out of the fridge for at least a week before eating.


Play around with various herbs and spices, fruit juice concentrates etc. and be creative.
And have fun!
Enjoy!

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