#MUSTARD

[elnerdo19v2]

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[daily-deliciousness]

Cajun shrimp deviled eggs

[fattributes]

French Lentil Salad with Fresh Herbs

[oddarette]

Mustardo Lava lampo

[sovereignsolace]

Dammit, I knew we should have gone to the mustard museum when we had the chance!

It might not surprise you to know that I've made mustard before. It's one of the easiest things to make, because it's just crushed up mustard seeds and some kind of liquid, then salt and vinegar for taste and preservation. This is difficult to get right though, for reasons of chemistry.

Like a lot of delicious things, what gives the mustard its pungency is a defense mechanism. The chemical is allyl isothiocyanate, but this is harmful to the plant, so it's stored in the precursor allyl glucosinolate and activated by the enzyme myrosinase. So the theory goes that an herbivore comes along, starts munching, releases the harmless glucosinolate and the enzyme, and together they make an explosion of searing pain to the sinuses.

So if you're making mustard at home, you're controlling this reaction. You grind up the mustard seeds, then add in some kind of liquid, and the nature of the liquid you add is going to determine how much of the glucosinolate gets converted to isothiocyanate. In other words, add cold water for spicy mustard, add hot water for mild mustard.

This is some alchemy shit right here. Mustard is one of the oldest condiments, and I have to imagine some mustard-maker explaining to her apprentice "alright, cold water for spicy, hot water for mild, you would think that it depends on the mustard crop and not the temperature of the water, and you would think hot for spicy and cold for mild, but nope, that's just how it is".

And then there's more alchemy, because the mustard compounds you get are volatile and fade away, except you can add in vinegar to keep it strong, but if you add the vinegar right away, shortly after crushing, it'll slow the reaction, making it less spicy.

So our hypothetical mustard-maker has to explain "vinegar makes it not spicy, but also keeps it spicy, so for the spiciest mustard you need to use the cold water, then wait for it to get spicy, then add in the vinegar only when it's as spicy as you want it to be, after which it'll stay that spicy".

I'm not sure how much evidence there is for them actually knowing all this, but I have to imagine that even thousands of years before the scientific method they would realize that the results were sometimes different, especially if an apprentice wasn't told a step that turned out to be crucial.

Anyway, this is all a long way of saying that my favorite mustard tastes different now, and I'm upset about it, so might have to go back to the incredibly varied world of home mustard making.

[mote-of-ash]

therapy sludge

[r1verst1x]

Finn has no sauce

[isaacsapphire]

I agree with anon. I also suspect that your dish would look fairly normal if made with s yellow mustard instead of black.

Seeing my tumblr dash were people talk about your black mustard concrete colored salad before seeing it is like

It can’t be that bad? It’s a funny joke but it can’t really actually look like that description

I was wrong, it really is an unsettling shade of grey. That’s what it looks like in the clay forest when it’s rained too much

And it's absolutely delicious. A rich, deep, full and strong mustard taste that's almost sweet like molasses.

[lustingfood]

Baked Honey Mustard Salmon (x)

[siseliestudio]

what is your condiment of choice? 🍟✨️

[deadthehype]

Artwork by Lil Ye

[daily-deliciousness]

Baked crunchy maple dijon chicken

[vintagehomecollection]

Bright Ideas for Your Home, 1978

[fattributes]

Arugula Pear Salad

[sleepyghostmp3]

MUSTARDDDDDDD

Free wallpaper at my KoFi page:

https://ko-fi.com/s/a3dda56345

[cupcakegal25]

mha + the onion