Whilst in Lyon I also bought some dark mustard seeds (now I know I’m not the only one who buys food as souvenirs). Apparently the darker the seeds the hotter the mustard, I didn’t know this then, but as it turns out, dark is good because I LOVE a hot mustard. Another thing I didn’t know in making mustard is that you can tame the heat by cooking the mustard, the longer you cook it, the less hot it will be. Go figure.
If you’re wondering, I made the label! The jar came from a trip out to Whistler, BC about 20 years ago. We ‘needed‘ Dijon mustard for a dinner in our condo and the one I bought came with this adorable little jar (you knew I was gonna buy that jar whether we needed mustard for our dinner or not!). Anyway, I loved the jar and the little wooden spoon, and it’s perfect for my home made mustard.
I remember seeing a post from my friend Lorraine at Not Quite Nigella and she made home made mustard from scratch. I know my Mom used to make it from time to time, but sadly I never got the recipe and when Lorraine made it a few months ago, I knew I had to give it a try. I won’t be buying grainy mustard again. It’s easy to make and the taste totally rocks. You have to leave it for a couple of days otherwise the seeds are quite bitter, but once it ages, it is lovely.
I made this batch to take to my brother’s cottage for Thanksgiving weekend. I served it with Turkey Sausages with the Fluffy Buttermilk Cakes of Pan breakfast JT and I made.
Grainy French Mustard
Makes about 125 mL or 1/2 cup
Ingredients:
- 6 tablespoons mustard seeds (I used 1 tbsp yellow mustard seeds and 5 tbsps brown French mustard seeds)
- 1/2 cup mustard powder
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
- 3 teaspoons honey (this simply smooths out the heat, it doesn’t actually make the mustard sweet)
- 1/3 cup water (use cold water if you like your mustard hot and spicy or use warm or hot water if you like your mustard mild)
Directions:
- In your dedicated spice grinder or mortar and pestle, grind about 1/3 of the total seeds. s
- In a small bowl, combine the ground and whole seeds, mustard powder and water; stir to combine.
- Rest this mixture for 15 minutes, then add salt, white wine vinegar and honey (for a milder mustard, you can gently heat this mixture in a saucepan for a few minutes).
- Pour this mixture into a sterilized glass jar (the longer it stands the thicker it gets) and allow to age for at least 12 hours or overnight to settle the flavour (it is very bitter to use immediately, the flavour really smooth out over time).
- You need not store mustard in the refrigerator, but I do.
[…] 1 tbsp (15 mL) grainy mustard (I made my own here) […]
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Food is the best souvenir from a vacation! I brought home a local cookbook after the trip to Virginia in April so I can remake some of my favourite dishes.
Your homemade mustard looks amazing! And I learned so much reading this post! B likes spicy foods, while I like mine more of a medium spicy. If I make homemade mustard, I can now follow your advice to make two batches that fit our preferences!
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I brought a cute little tapas cookbook from Barcelona that I can’t wait to try and blog about.
The mustard is quite tasty indeed. Hope B likes it too.
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I had no idea that the dark the seed the hotter the mustard. Though I’m sure if I told that to Liz she would say “I could have told you that.” My wife is full of all types of strange info, but I appreciate getting it from another source so that I can look as smart as she tries to. 😉
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This is why blogging is so cool, why would you even bother looking up the colour of mustard seeds? Now we all know, and mums the word with Liz. You can pretend to be as smart as you want and I won’t tell! 😉
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What a fun recipe Eva!!!
I am from eastern part of India, where we make our own mustard from scratch. Normally it is used in fish and other vegetable recipes. It’s so easy to make that it surprises me that people don’t make it more often. I loved the addition of honey.
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Thank you kindly Minnie, I’ll check out your blog to see if you have a recipe for mustard,
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I’ve gotten homemade mustard as a gift and it was sublime. Now I can try yours!!! Love your tips about the color of the seeds and the cooking time…who knew?
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Thanks so much Liz! Let me know how it works out.
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I’m so happy to have this recipe to add to my repertoire of ‘must make’ as I’ve not yet experimented with homemade mustard… the process sounds pretty straight forward and worthwhile and I bet it tastes absolutely delicious (this is my experience with homemade mayo – the freshness is out of this world!). Love the tip about cooking the mustard longer to tame the heat (I can custom make batches that way ;-)). Wonderful home-styled label Eva… you are such an artist at heart!
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Thank you kindly Kelly, I was quite surprised myself to learn how easy it is to make. Now I shall think twice about the expensive gourmet mustard I sometimes get from that place in the St. Lawrence Market (Kloziks, I think).
Thank you for your compliment on my artistry too!
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So clever, I’ve never tried making my own mustard, and I’m now wondering why not!! We always have mustard seeds at home, we use them in Indian cookery so I’m off to bookmark the recipe – thanks for the tip !
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Thanks Claire, welcome back. I’ve had mustard seeds in my pantry for Indian cooking too and was quite surprised when I saw Lorraine’s blog post about it that it’s the first time it occurred to me to make my own mustard.
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I must try this Eva
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Thank you Zsuzsa, it was actually quite fun to make and so very easy.
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Excellent idea to make your own mustard and choose your own flavours’ balance. It’s funny but I always buy black mustard grains at Indian grocery shops 😉 I must try doing it on my own too. Thank you for the inspiration.
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Thank you kindly Sissi, it’s really as easy as it sounds. I must check my Indian grocery store for the black mustard seeds.
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In general, unless I want to buy organic spices or grains (many are not available in organic shops alas), I go first to Indian/Pakistani shops. They sell bigger bags of grains for the price I would pay for a tiny amount in a supermarket. I sometimes calculate that I pay five times less than in any other shop. I also often realise that some spices in “normal” shops (even in organic shops) are “aired”, i.e. not much smell or taste… and this never happens with the spices bought in Indian shops (even ground spices have a stronger aroma). Indians know how to treat well spices 😉
I don’t know if it works the same in Canada though.
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You are absolutely right about the quality of spices in the grocery stores…we are very fortunate and we have a very good bulk/health food store in our neighbourhood that have very good fresh spices and they turn stock around often; if I can’t find what I am looking for, it’s down to Chinatown or Little India.
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Eva, your mustard and packaging look fantastic! I’m so glad that you feel that way! I haven’t bought mustard in ages now that I know how easy it is to make. Thank you for the shout out 😀
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My pleasure as always Lorraine. I use it in salad dressings all the time.
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I made mustard after Lorraine did too. How easy and delicious and its always nice to put something on the table and wait for people to ask where you bought it. “Oh I made it last week,” is my favorite reply.
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Thanks Maureen, it really is an unexpected home made item. And tasty too!
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Last year was a “Condiment Christmas” and I gave little baskets with ketchup, whole grain mustards, and jellies that I’d prepared. One of the mustards was Mandy’s Guinness-based; the other alcohol-free. This weekend I spent making ketchup again and was looking for another alcohol-free mustard. Well, looky here! An alcohol-free mustard. Looks like I won’t be searching any further. Thanks, Eva!
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What a coincidence! I’m sorry that I forgot about your post for the mustard; I had to keep it alcohol free because my niece and nephew were going to have some too. Is the ketchup from Jeffrey Steingarten’s book?
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Sorry for the misunderstanding, Eva. I never posted a recipe for mustard. One was Mandy’s (thecompletecookbook) and the alcohol-free one I got from the internet and wasn’t as happy with it. That’s why I was so pleased to see your post. I’ve all the ingredients and will definitely be making yours. As for the ketchup, it’s based on the one that Tanya (Chica Andaluza) posted last year. I’ve made it a number of times now and it is in big demand among my friends. There’s really no comparison with store-bought.
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Thanks for clearing it up, John. I’ll check out the ketchup recipe. Sissi (with a glass) swears by Steingarten’s recipe.
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I didn’t know a person could make a grainy mustard. This way you have so much control over the quantities of yellow and brown and then again when you decide to cook it or not! Excellent!
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Thanks Barbara, and there is so much that you can do with it too.
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Yum. I love hot mustard too. Call me a mustard addict. Though hot English is my go-to mustard but because I never found a hot grainy one. Sounds like I just need to look for dark seeds.
I also buy food souvenirs, but our country can be pretty mean when it comes to importing items so I have to be very careful that whatever I’m bringing in is dead as dead can be. Seeds are very much frowned upon.
The Koala and I have been calling mustard “mootard” since forever. I think it was more like our retarded way of saying mustard. Just last week I found out that Moutarde was mustard in French. We must secretly be Frenchies.
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That’s funny Genie, I thought you were actually referring to the French word for mustard.
Years ago someone brought a ‘wild’ flower from Europe called Purple Loosestrife and it actually created havoc in Ontario because the plant has no natural predators clogging up our swamps; they eventually caved in and brought European leaf-eating beetles which seemed to calm it down. It’s actually quite frightening as to the damage something so seemingly meaningless can do.
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once again, i learn something new from you. Never thought to make my own mustard but looks like I will be adding this to my things to do list
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Thank Jessica
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What a fun recipe! I had no idea you could make your own mustard. And that little jar is adorable and I dare say perfect for this recipe. Love the label too. 🙂 I’d be tempted to make some spicy mustard and some mild – it just seems too easy not to. So clever Eva!
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Thank you kindly Kristy, I thought the same thing too when I saw it on Lorraine’s blog.
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I have a soft spot for mustard and delicious veggie parties 🙂
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
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Thanks CCU!
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Like Barb and Charlie, I had no idea mustard was so easy to make. Fancy label indeed, so creative.
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Indeed, Norma, I felt the same way when I first saw it on Lorraine’s blog
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Oh man, you little overachiever you. Now with fancy labels. This does look good and fancy-label worthy.
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Ha ha ha! Thanks Greg! Your comments always make me chuckle.
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What a great idea. I had no idea it would be so easy to make mustard. I must make some because I love a hot mustard too. Great recipe, Eva xx
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Thank you kindly Charlie. It gets tastier as it ages!
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I prefer mine HOT and SPICY too. It doesn’t seem too difficult to make it at home. I will have to try it myself.
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To be honest Angie, it gets tastier as it ages. I love the way the seeds pop in my mouth like caviar!
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Sausage with grainy home made mustard … love, love, love.
I’m tempted to pick up a loaf of challah bread and show up at your door in time for your next breakfast. 🙂
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How flattering, but text me first so I can have my ‘face’ on!
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I thought that it would be much harder than that Eva. I would like to try this sometime too — but I don’t like it hot so the yellow seeds will work just fine. Such an interesting post!
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Thanks Barb, I was rather surprised too.
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