Wholegrain Mustard

It's canning season.  Since I've gotten the canner, I'm in it pretty deep.  Broke it in one day with rum-infused grapes (same recipe but adding 1/4 C light rum), strawberry-lavender jam, and kohlrabi relish.  I'm not going to try that many recipes in a day again.

I already have a batch of fig mustard in the pantry, but I decided to do a non-sweet one for everyday use.  I had trouble finding a reliable canning recipe for yellow mustard, but there are several out there using whole seeds.  Only problem, mustard seeds of any color are difficult to find in stores and cost way more than I planned to spend.  So I went online and found The Spice Way, a company based in Van Nuys, that mailed them in two days for $7 a half pound.  For nearly any spice, that is a perfectly reasonable cost.  They have a brick and mortar store in Studio City and several locations across the country.

Yes, a pound of mustard seeds is a lot.  It's going to take me a couple of years to use them all.  I use them primarily in mustard sauce, pickles, broths, and curries.  I picked up a new coffee/spice grinder that is way better than my old one, so I can now make my own mustard powder from the seeds.  The bags are mylar and seal very well, reducing the chance of the seeds going stale prematurely.

I'm following the recipe on Home Preserving, a trusted canning and preserving site.  She's located in Australia, but uses the conventional American measurements that are still the canning standard.  If you're not processing, you can go off-recipe with herbs and spices and refrigerate the finished product for up to a month.  For canning, only go with tested and trusted recipes.  The mistakes were thrown out for a reason.

This recipe is super basic.  Only five ingredients, counting the water.  Aside from the brown mustard seeds, everything is easy to find.  And if you want to scale it down to a refrigerated-only amount, reference the above link to the source.  It has various batch sizes.

1-1/2 C apple cider vinegar
1/2 C yellow mustard seeds
1/2 C brown mustard seeds
2/3 C filtered water
2 tsp kosher salt

1.  Place all ingredients in a non-reactive quart container.  A quart Mason jar is nice if you have it.  Shake or stir to distribute, then let sit 8 to 24 hours.  The seeds will absorb most, if not all, of the liquid.

2.  If canning, prepare jars, lids, and canner for a 3 cup yield.  This is hot-pack, so preheat the jars.

3.  Pour contents into a blender or food processor.  Process to desired texture, anywhere from 3 to 10 minutes.  I stopped to check it every two minutes, and decided that 4 was enough.  There were still many whole seeds, but enough saucy paste between them to make spreading easy.

4.  Pour mustard into a saucepan.  Heat over medium-high until it reaches a low boil, then reduce heat to medium-low or it will spit hot mustard at you.  Cook about 10 minutes.  You actually don't have to cook it further once it reaches the simmer, but mustard is extremely potent unless it is cooked.  8-10 minutes will give you spicy grainy mustard, 15 minutes will be much more mild.

5.  It's tempting, but DO NOT taste the mustard before filling the jars!  My eyes were watering from the "fumes".  Mustard mellows after it cools and spends a couple of weeks in the pantry or fridge.  Tasting it now would be like swallowing a tablespoon of wasabi.

6.  Fill jars to 1/2" headspace.  Mustard can siphon as the seeds soak up extra moisture during the water bath, so don't skimp on the headspace.  De-bubble with a tool or chopstick and add more mustard if necessary.  Wipe rims clean with vinegar, fit lids, and screw on bands.  Process 10 minutes for jelly or half-pint jars, 15 minutes for pints.  Allow to sit in the canner with the lid off for 5 minutes before removing.  As the jars cool, you might notice cracks in the product inside.  This is fine, and is a result of the attempted siphoning.

7.  Allow finished mustard to sit, either in jars or the fridge, for 2-4 weeks before using.  Unless you like really, really hot mustard.  Then try it after a few days.

Makes 3 cups

Difficulty rating  π