Based on my research there are some basic steps to making mustard. You need mustard seeds or powder, a liquid and some salt. The rest is opinion and style. What do you want your mustard to taste like? How you go about making the mustard will be directly related to how you want it to taste. As I become more and more experienced I will give you some of my insights.
Before I continue I wanna give credit where credit is due. I have been thinking about doing this for years but it wasn't until I saw a Chef Garrett Pittler on Talk of the Town make it that I decided to take the plunge and start making my own.
As you can tell I assembled a slew of ingredients. This is not even half of them. I have lots more.
I decided to do with Spiced Rum because it's so damn good. I plan on using a lot of different alcohols in my mustard's.
So very simple to do. I took the first 5 ingredients and mixed them together. I should have added a little bit more rum or water to the bowl but I could not predict how much the seeds were going to absorb. Not a big deal at all. Now you need to wait 24 hours or more for the mustard seeds to absorb the liquid. You wanna be able to break a seed between your fingers which will tell tell you when it's ready for the next step. I waited three days because of my funky schedule.
Mustard complete. You want to give the mustard a rest in the refrigerator before tasting. Go ahead and taste if you need to but it will be bitter. Two-three days later the mustard has had a chance to mellow and become a great mustard. After three days give it a taste and adjust if you have too. Fortunately for me I hit a home run and no adjustments were necessary.
Bottled up for gifts. Not shelf stable and it will last longer of course; in the refrigerator. Considering it's ingredients it's hard to believe that anything can live in this concoction so it may be shelf stable but it will last longer in the refrigerator. You could probably set it out at room temp but the flavors will mellow sooner than later.
So very simple to do. I took the first 5 ingredients and mixed them together. I should have added a little bit more rum or water to the bowl but I could not predict how much the seeds were going to absorb. Not a big deal at all. Now you need to wait 24 hours or more for the mustard seeds to absorb the liquid. You wanna be able to break a seed between your fingers which will tell tell you when it's ready for the next step. I waited three days because of my funky schedule.
After three days this is what it looked like.
Note: Some people don't use whole seeds. Some people will give them a slight toss in a spice mill to break them down a bit before adding liquid. Of course breaking down the seeds will will accelerate the absorption of the liquid.
Now the easy part. I tossed everything into my vitamix and zipped it up. I had to add about 50 g more of water to get it to the right consistency.
Mustard complete. You want to give the mustard a rest in the refrigerator before tasting. Go ahead and taste if you need to but it will be bitter. Two-three days later the mustard has had a chance to mellow and become a great mustard. After three days give it a taste and adjust if you have too. Fortunately for me I hit a home run and no adjustments were necessary.
Bottled up for gifts. Not shelf stable and it will last longer of course; in the refrigerator. Considering it's ingredients it's hard to believe that anything can live in this concoction so it may be shelf stable but it will last longer in the refrigerator. You could probably set it out at room temp but the flavors will mellow sooner than later.
I personally put the mustard in clean sterilized jars and refrigerate. Some people will hot pack. They heat the mustard up to about 180˚ƒ and place in hot sterilized jars and invert creating a vacuum and place in refrigerator or on shelf. My PH meter reader broke so I don't know the PH of the mustard (needs to below 4.6). The absolute proven processing technique is to hot pack and process on stove using the Hot Water bath Method.
Note: Some people like adding the vinegar and other liquids right up front. I like to add the vinegar at the end. When you add the the vinegar in the beginning it will make a milder mustard. The temp plays a role too. Everything is a chemical reaction. Again, I need to do a side by side comparison.
The Pungency of Mustard is always reduced by heating.
Things I have learned along the way: How hot is hot? Well it's all related to the mustard seed. Yellow is mild , Brown and Black seeds are pungent and hot. Let's talk liquid used to moisten seeds. The sky's the limit. Just use your imagination and choose something you like.
There are some things to consider though when choosing your liquid. Adding cold water will give you the hottest mustard whereas vinegar will give you the least amount of heat and punch. Ahhh... adding warm water , well let's just say it won't be as hot or pungent as if using cold water. Ok what does this mean. If you add cold water only you get hot stuff but it's short lived. What does vinegar do? Vinegar gives mustard longevity and stability. If you add cold water and vinegar you get a mustard that will be a little less hot but is stable and will have sustained heat and punch. Using vinegar will stabilize your mustard and it will keep pungent flavor longer. Using just water will give you a maximum heat but it's short lived. In this recipe I used the vinegar last to give it stability.
So adding vinegar sets the mustard but made with water only will give you a mustard that short lived. You need balance. Oh and if you heat your mustard on the stove top keep it short because the mustard can become very mellow but if that's your thing disregard.
There are some things to consider though when choosing your liquid. Adding cold water will give you the hottest mustard whereas vinegar will give you the least amount of heat and punch. Ahhh... adding warm water , well let's just say it won't be as hot or pungent as if using cold water. Ok what does this mean. If you add cold water only you get hot stuff but it's short lived. What does vinegar do? Vinegar gives mustard longevity and stability. If you add cold water and vinegar you get a mustard that will be a little less hot but is stable and will have sustained heat and punch. Using vinegar will stabilize your mustard and it will keep pungent flavor longer. Using just water will give you a maximum heat but it's short lived. In this recipe I used the vinegar last to give it stability.
So adding vinegar sets the mustard but made with water only will give you a mustard that short lived. You need balance. Oh and if you heat your mustard on the stove top keep it short because the mustard can become very mellow but if that's your thing disregard.
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