As Canadian as mustard?

If any condiment has a claim on being Canadian, I’d argue that it’s mustard.

Sure, people have been making mustard since ancient times, but look at how things stand today: Canada is the world’s largest exporter of mustard seed, and one of the top 5 producers overall. I think that’s enough to qualify the piquant hot dog-topper as a Canadian product!

I used to view flavoured mustards the same way I view flavoured vinegars and oils: why pay high margins for someone else to combine two ingredients I already have on hand? If I want tarragon-infused white wine vinegar, I’ll take some white wine vinegar and some tarragon, and mix ’em together. Similarly, if I want honey mustard, I’ll take some honey and some prepared mustard, and mix them together.

There are limitations to this approach, though: the base mustard already has a pre-determined texture, heat level, and acidity. I want more control, and that means breaking mustard down further.

Fundamentally, mustard is made of three things: mustard seed, water and acid. The seed itself comes in three varieties, yellow, brown and black. (These names may vary, depending on your source.) Yellow, the least piquant, is used for the bright yellow turmeric-tinted spread that graces countless picnic tables in the summer. Brown has more heat, and is the base for the Dijon-style mustard I prefer. Black is a little less common, since it’s hard to harvest mechanically, but is used widely in Indian cuisine.

The compound that gives mustard its pungency is called allyl isothiocyanate. It’s present in the seed in a non-pungent storage form; when the seeds are crushed, this storage form is released. On contact with water, an enzyme that’s also in the seeds breaks down the storage form and produces that familiar sinus-clearing result. This reaction takes time, of course, which means that the longer you leave the mustard, the hotter it will get, up to a point.

Fortunately, there’s an easy way to control this reaction: by introducing an acid, usually in the form of vinegar, you can arrest the process, effectively “fixing” the level of heat where you want it. There are other ways to control the piquancy of mustard, too: heating it, for example, will reduce it. It also fades naturally over time, which is why a freshly opened jar of prepared mustard always seems hotter than the one you just finished off.

Once you understand this basic method, you have total control. If you want a smooth mustard, you can grind your mustard seed very fine in a spice grinder and sift out the bits of hull (keeping in mind that grinding will heat the seeds, which can reduce the piquancy), or use a commercial mustard powder. For a more textured mustard, don’t grind the seeds quite as much. You can even use a mix of finely and coarsely ground seeds.

From there, of course, the only limitation is your imagination. Want honey mustard? Mix in some honey, and tweak the amount of vinegar to find a good balance of sweet and sour. Herbed mustard? Add some chopped or pureed herbs, and adjust the water content to get your desired thickness. Given the notorious difficulty of pairing wine and vinegar, you could even try making a more wine-friendly mustard by using an alternative source of acidity, like verjus or lemon juice. Sure, lemon juice will oxidize quickly, so it might not have a very long shelf life, but you can always make more tomorrow.

For my latest batch of mustard, I used brown mustard seeds from Kozlik’s, one of Canada’s premier mustard producers. Then, just to punch up the Canadian content, I added that quintessentially Canadian ingredient: maple syrup. I really like the way the nuttiness of the mustard seed works with the maple flavour. You can use this recipe as the basis for any number of variations.

Recipe for Canadian Maple Mustard

• 1/4 cup Kozlik’s brown mustard seed, ground fine
• 1/4 cup Kozlik’s brown mustard seed, ground coarse
• 1/4 cup cold, filtered water
• 2 Tbsp. red wine vinegar (I used a varietal vinegar from Niagara Vinegars)
• 1 tsp. kosher salt
• 1.5 Tbsp. maple syrup

Put the ground mustard seeds and water in a bowl, mix thoroughly, and let stand for 5 minutes (or longer if you want a hotter mustard; shorter if you’re a wimp). Add the vinegar, salt and maple syrup, and mix well again. Transfer to a mason jar or similar container, and store in the fridge. Serve on hot dogs or hamburgers, with roast beef or charcuterie, in a vinaigrette… or anywhere else you’d normally use mustard.

What’s your favourite flavoured or specialty mustard?