Ahead of the curve

I don’t think I have adequately expressed my love of the noblest of all condiments. The king of the refridgerator door. The all-knowing, all-doing, all-purpose sauce.

I’m talking, kids, about mustard.

Like vegetables, I used to hate mustard. I hated nearly all condiments, actually. My favorite fast food splurge in high school was a turkey sub from Subway with american cheese and nothing else. No mayo. No veggies. Turkey. Cheese. White bread bun.

Classic midwesterner here.

Fast forward about a decade and I’ve learned a thing or two.

Those four jars above were what were in my fridge door last weekend. Now before you get all but Katie, four kinds of mustard is hardly noteworthy, let me just say that there are only four jars because I’ve spent the last six months eating down my supply. At one point I had 10 jars.

Oh, and I have a couple jars in my fridge at work. Obviously.

I love the classic yellow French’s, but I also like to get a little funky with the flavored mustards.

The heyday of my obsession.

When I got really into it, I started to make my own mustard, because it turns out that, like most things store-bought, you can make them from scratch just as easily.

If you only like the yellow classic stuff, making your own isn’t going to save you very much money, but some of the fancier flavored mustards can be a bit pricey. I’m guessing that they are only going to get more expensive. According to this article, mustard is going to be one of the hot new food trends of 2012.

In fact, Food Network predicts mustard will be the hottest food trend of 2012. Barry Levenson, founder and curator of the National Mustard Museum in Middleton, Wis. (only 6,978 km from Dijon, France, according to its web site), has noticed that a growing number of small, artisanal companies have been nabbing Grand Champion and Gold Medals at the World-Wide Mustard Competition. While there is nothing new about artisanal mustard, he thinks it makes sense that the food movement would latch onto mustard because it is a healthy food.

The article goes on to state that these so-called artisanal mustards are coming out in tons of new flavors all the time. That’s no surprise to me, as I’ve made my own in several kinds – madras curry, raspberry, apricot, whiskey maple (oh yes, I did), cinnamon, cranberry….you get it. I’ve even made mustard hummus.

Me? Ahead of the trends? Huh. Who knew? (Me. That’s who.)

My basic recipe is so simple, it can hardly be called a recipe:

• 2-3 T mustard seeds (to taste, I usually do a mix of yellow and brown)
• 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/4 teaspoon each, salt and pepper

Combine everything in a jar and soak at least 12 hours, preferably longer.

After that, you can add in anything and everything your little heart desires. For this latest mustard (above and below), I added a couple tsp of fish sauce, a tsp of lime juice, and about 2 tsp of red curry paste. I also subbed rice wine vinegar for apple cider, since I knew I was going for the asian flair on this one.

Blend until the mustard seeds are ground to the consistency you like, thinning with water as needed.

You can add more or fewer mustard seeds, but 3 T makes a very spicy mustard, but it does mellow out a bit after a couple days.

What’s your favorite condiment? Wacky mustard? Have you ever made your own mustard?

What do you think will be the food trend of 2012?

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