Black and yellow mustard is native to southern Europe while the brown mustard is native to India. Mustard is cultivated in India, Canada, United States, and parts of Europe and it belongs to the cabbage family. The Romans first introduced this plant to Europe and in medieval Europe mustard was the one spice ordinary person could afford. These tiny seeds weather they are brown, black, yellow or [white as some people call it] seem unassuming to look at with barely any aroma until you toast it or fry it like tadka (tempering) or until you grind it. There is another variety called the hot mustard or Chinese mustard which are more difficult to come by, so we won’t go into that for now. Do not undermine the importance of this little seed as the mustard plant is used in all its forms, from its leaves as in saag and salads, or oil from the seeds that is used for health benefits and in sautéing vegetables and cooking and in making Indian style pickles etc. not to mention the hundreds of ways its seeds are used on a daily basis in our everyday cooking as well.
Tasting Notes
Like I said earlier it is an unassuming little seed with very little aroma. They will deliver a big punch with slight heat when they are toaster or fried or ground. Let’s start with the yellow/white mustard since it is the mildest of all three but still offers some heat and has a slight bitterness. Black mustard seeds are a bit stronger than the yellow mustard and great when used whole. This is the one I prefer to use even though I grew up using the slightly smaller brown mustard in India which is slightly less flavorful in my opinion. The flavors of all three varieties are a bit pungent, a bit bitter and slightly hot and aromatic with slight variations among them.
Uses
Oh my! Where do I start. I do not know of any other spice that has more uses than this tiny little seed with barely any aroma. I will only talk about the black and the yellow mustard seed as these are the only ones I use. I have stopped using the small brown Indian variety a long time ago. Though mustard seeds are not very popular in daily use in western cuisine it is sometimes used as a pickling or preserving spice. Let’s not forget the use of mustard condiment on our hot dogs and sandwiches. But that’s the extent of its use in the western world except for a few gourmet chefs. In some parts of India, the oil is also used in cooking. The ground black mustard that I use is first toasted on a mild heat to bring out its flavor. After letting it cool for a while, I will grind it but not too fine. I still like it to feel slightly grainy. This gold powder with tiny specks of black is too beautiful to look at. To me this spice is the king of all spices. This is used in making various marinades and spice blends and spice rubs, especially for fish. As for the whole mustard I have one jar of just black and another of just yellow and another jar with both black and yellow mixed together. The whole black is used in Tadkas (tempering) on lentils or soups and some vegetable dishes like turnip which has a strong flavor and hence needs a slightly stronger variety of mustard. The mixed jar is used in vegetable dishes to give a medium flavor and for esthetic sense to kind of make the dish more attractive. And the mustard powder is used in curries and in various spice blends and for fish and some garam masalas. And you can also add it to marinades and even salad dressings. A small quantity goes a long way so please me mindful of that. I have this very special spice blend I make with this mustard powder, granulated honey, and one other very special spice. And I use this spice blend to make salad dressing and I also use it on mild fish like cod etc. it is heavenly I tell you.!! May be some day soon I will share it. That is a lot of information for a tiny little seed. Enjoy, experiment cautiously and let me know.
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