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A little off topic: Here in Sweden, "cider" means any carbonated drink, usually flavoured with apple or pear. They can be with or without alcohol. To confuse things further, some companies sell products flavoured with all kinds of fruits and berries under the name cider: gooseberry, rhubarb, wild strawberry etc (of course artificial flavours). Some ciders are just plain apple juice with added alcohol and water.

Cider in Sweden can mean just about anything. There is no genuine native Swedish cider on the market. Bear that in mind if you ever come here!

We're getting companies calling their pear products Pear Cider. However, the correct term in English for pear 'cider' is Perry.

Near to me in Warwickshire, an alcoholic drink made from a certain type of plum was calledjerkum.

None of which has anything to do with mustard - so my apologies.

I made a 'ballpark' mustard, the recipe'shere. I only did it the once as it's that cheap to buy, it wasn't worth making. My own attempts at whole grain mustard were a bit bitter. With Grisell's advice, I think I'll re-visit it.

Phil

Edited to correct url link

wheels wrote:I made a 'ballpark' mustard, the recipe'shere. I only did it the once as it's that cheap to buy, it wasn't worth making. My own attempts at whole grain mustard were a bit bitter. With Grisell's advice, I think I'll re-visit it.

Phil

He he Coincidence. I think that's the same recipe I tried a few months ago. It went alright for me, and was quite okay. Just don't boil the mustard, it will destroy all the aroma and the enzymes and you will be left with a 'dead' product.

On the other hand, the liquid can be boiling hot. When mixed with the mustard seeds/powder, it will reach a perfect temperature for enzyme reaction (45-55, max 60 C).

Once again, don't ask me for a scientific explanation - it just seems to work

Hi grisell, can you tell me, did you bring your cider/cider vinegar to a boil before adding to mustard seeds and powder.

Thanks

Wal

I haven't tried the recipe yet! Anyway, no, I would recommend cold mixing and then heating with the method explained above. I don't know why, it just feels more correct.

I think that boiling it will remove the heat. Certainly when you cook the mustard in my 'Ballpark' recipe (mentioned earlier) it gets milder.

Phil

Thanks Phil/grisell, out of curiosity how many types/colours of mustard seed are there, a local (ish) Chinese supermarket/warehouse has 3/4 different colours, would it be ok to mix these.

Thanks

Wal

Still on a massive learnig curve, feels like I have only just got away from the start line...........

That looks great. When I made mustard I just threw it in the fridge for a month before eating any, like with horseradish; the bitterness just disappears.

tomwal wrote:Thanks Phil/grisell, out of curiosity how many types/colours of mustard seed are there, a local (ish) Chinese supermarket/warehouse has 3/4 different colours, would it be ok to mix these.

Thanks

Wal

Still on a massive learnig curve, feels like I have only just got away from the start line...........

Oops! That's new to me. I have only seen two colours: yellow and brown. Brown seeds are easier to find here, so I use them most of the time. I don't notice any great difference in taste; some people say that the brown ones are hotter, but I don't know.

Dogfish wrote:That looks great. When I made mustard I just threw it in the fridge for a month before eating any, like with horseradish; the bitterness just disappears.

That seems logical. The enzymes will work even when it's cold, but it takes a lot longer because it's a chemical reaction.

grisell wrote:

tomwal wrote:Thanks Phil/grisell, out of curiosity how many types/colours of mustard seed are there, a local (ish) Chinese supermarket/warehouse has 3/4 different colours, would it be ok to mix these.

Thanks

Wal

Still on a massive learnig curve, feels like I have only just got away from the start line...........

Oops! That's new to me. I have only seen two colours: yellow and brown. Brown seeds are easier to find here, so I use them most of the time. I don't notice any great difference in taste; some people say that the brown ones are hotter, but I don't know.

Hi, had another look in the Chinese supermarket this morning, they had yellow, brown, black and a red/orange mustard seed, at least it said mustard seed on the packs, I wondered if the red/orange colour seed was just another version of the yellow one, maybe cultivated for longer or if some kind of processing had been carried out, thanks for replying.

Wal

From Wikipedia:

Mustard seeds may be colored from yellowish white to black. They are important spices in many regional foods. The seeds can come from three different plants: black mustard (Brassica nigra), brown Indian mustard (B. juncea), and white mustard (B. hirta/Sinapis alba).

So 3 varieties with many types of each?

Phil

I ordered a couple mustard books from the library today, may be trying some more experiments in the coming weeks. I'm also going to try using a heating pad for ezymatic work as previously discussed. I'll report out any findings.

JerBear wrote:I'm also going to try using a heating pad for ezymatic work as previously discussed. I'll report out any findings.

I'll be looking forward to your findings

We just moved a couple months back and not everything has been found, namely the heating pad. I did get the books I ordered from the library and was able to make a good find of info. The first book, The Incredible Secrets of Mustard, was worthless for my purposes. The second book which was simply titled, Mustard, by Janet Hazan gave me what I was looking for. As I was casually flipping through the book I read an anecdote that said, "The heat in mustard comes from the enzyme myrosin, which is released when the seed is crushed or bruised and mixed with a liquid."

Now that I had the name of the enzyme I did some internet searching that led me to an article that had three really good nuggets of info. Article here: http://www.ediblecommunities.com/vancouver/Recent-Articles/cutting-the-mustard.htm

The article is worth a read, it's short and entertaining but here are the three nuggets excerpted:

1. "the darker the seed, the more pungent the finished product."

2. "cold liquids start the reaction; warm or hot liquids arrest it. For maximum hotness, make sure the liquid you add to the ground mustard is cold. Add warmer liquid to limit the potency." (sorry grisell, no specific temperatures were mentioned)

3. "acid neutralizes the decline in spiciness. As time passes, the spiciness of your mustard will fade. Taste it every couple of minutes, and when you find a level of heat you like, mix in the acid of your choice, usually a type of vinegar. This will stop the pungency from dissipating any further." (this last one hit me right across the noggin as it's exactly what I did with my recipe. I added the cider vinegar at the same time as the other ingredients and barring any future heating I should expect that it's going to stay pretty close to it's current potency. I read an actual scientific study that mentioned a highly refined version of the enzyme held it's potency for over 53 days)