Cultured Mustard – “The Good Stuff”

Cultured Mustard – “The Good Stuff”

Cultured Mustard – “The Good Stuff”Cultured Mustard — Much More Than Just a Bold-Flavored Condiment

As the husband of a friend of mine said upon tasting the jar of Cultured Country-Style Mustard I gave them, “This is the good stuff.” He then proceeded to hide the jar at the back of their refrigerator so no one else could find it. 😉 But homemade cultured mustard is much more than just a bold-flavored condiment.

This mustard is good for you—good for your digestion, good for your immune system and good tasting as well. Being lacto-fermented, cultured mustard adds a healthy dose of probiotics into you and your family’s diet. Plus, it is easily prepared and jarred in less than 10 minutes.

Ten minutes and 3-4 days later

Cultured Mustard – “The Good Stuff”Once blended and packed into clean glass jars with tight-fitting lids, store the mustard in a dark cupboard at room temperature. After four days of fermentation (often only 3 days during warm weather) this spicy mustard enlivens everything it touches.

Enjoy it as you would any other mustard. Though, with its spicy taste and aroma a little goes a long way. Try it in sandwiches, in egg salad, with crackers and cheese or spread on top of a frittata. I especially like Country-Style Mustard as the flavorful foundation of my homemade salad dressings. Mustard acts as an emulsifier in salad dressings: mix a little mustard with the vinegar, then gradually whisk the olive oil into them. (Try this recipe for Shallot Mustard Vinaigrette.)

A grand pedigree

Mustard seeds have a number of unique healing properties by way of their parent plant which belongs to the brassica family. This family includes all of the cruciferous vegetables—such nutritional all-stars as broccoli, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, arugula and many others. An incredibly significant pedigree for such tiny little seeds.

The Royal Mustard Pot

My favorite mustard story concerns the French King Louis XI. Being quite the lover of mustard, he would travel with his own “royal mustard pot” just in case his hosts failed to serve his favorite condiment. I doubt he would have this concern today, as the annual world mustard consumption tops 400 million pounds! Undoubtedly our guts would be happier and we would all be healthier as well if the mustard we consumed contained the good-for-us bacteria generated during natural fermentation. You know, “the good stuff.”

Recipe Update

Thanks to the comment from John, in order to truly have lacto-fermented mustard, stir the apple cider vinegar into the mustard after the mustard has fermented, not in the beginning as I originally learned. The recipe below has been updated.

Cultured Mustard – “The Good Stuff”Cultured Mustard – Country-Style, Whole-Grain Mustard

Adapted from a recipe by Kaelin Kiesel who adapted it from a recipe by Sally Fallon in Nourishing Traditions.

Makes about 3 cups                                                  Printer-Friendly Recipe
Active time:  10 minutes
Total time:  3-4 days

Ingredients

Cultured Mustard – “The Good Stuff”½ cup whole yellow mustard seeds
½ cup whole brown mustard seeds
1 cup water
2 tablespoons raw, mild honey
¼ cup whey
2 tablespoons high quality sea salt
¼ cup fresh lemon juice from 1- 2 lemons
4 medium cloves garlic, crushed
¼ cup raw apple cider vinegar

Directions
  1. Use a blender to partially grind the mustard seeds, leaving most of them whole.
  2. Add the rest of the ingredients, except for the vinegar, to the blender jar. Process for 1 minute. (About 15 seconds in a high-speed blender).
  3. Pack the mustard into glass jars leaving at least 1-inch head space in each jar. Cover the jars tightly.
  4. Place the jars in a dark cupboard to ferment at room temperature for 3-4 days. (4 days during colder months). Burp the jars daily.
  5. When finished fermenting, stir in the apple cider vinegar. Then transfer the jars of mustard to the refrigerator for storage.

Printer-friendly recipe

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