Mustard

From the Latin mustus, the new wine with which the Romans mixed their beloved pounded mustard seeds, and ardeus, meaning "burning", referring to its spiciness. From the Cruciferae family, the mustard plant produces yellow flowers with pods full of tiny seeds. The color of the seeds provides the name of the type of mustard: Sinapis alba produces white (or yellow) mustard; Brassica nigra produces black mustard; and Brassica juncea produces brown mustard (sometimes called black and used more often than the nigra variety). Crushed mustard seeds were not mixed with must until the Middle Ages. Until then, the powdered seeds were mixed with honey and formed into balls. Later, in Italy, the practice was to add powdered dried lemon or orange peel.

Mustard was acclaimed by Roman naturalist Pliny for its ability "to surmount lassitude in females." It was used as a treatment for epilepsy, lethargy and "all deep-seated pains in any part of the body." In around AD 42, the Roman agricultural writer Columella records a method for making mustard thatvery similar to today's preparation. The recipe recorded by the 4th-century Roman author Palladius, a specialist on agriculture, is merely a mixture of the seeds crushed with honey, oil and strong vinegar. Modern mustard is made in much the same way, with sugar replacing the honey. Pliny also recommended a cough mixture made by boiling coarsely powdered mustard seed and dried figs in strong ale. British naturalist Nicholas Culpeper, as usual, came up with a fascinating conglomeration of cures: "It's good for snake poison if taken in time; the powdered seed mixed with honey into balls and taken every morning, fasting will clear the voice; the decoction of the seeds will resist the malignity of mushrooms; chewed in the mouth it often helps toothache and", he adds, "it helps also the crick in the neck."

Mrs. Clements of Durham, England, invented the modern way of making mustard powder in the 18th century, by milling the seeds to make flour; she traveled from town to town, promoting her invention, which eventually found favor with the royal court and made her a fortune. Experimenting with mustard seeds in the 19th century, Jeremiah Colman used plants growing near the city of Norwich, which is now the center of the Colman Mustard industry, putting British mustards on the world map. Today, this powdered, dried form of mustard is found all over the world in the spice aisles of grocery stores, under the name "dry mustard." See also mustard powder, prepared mustard.

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