Homemade Grainy Mustard
Looks like I’m making a habit of giving you guys non-recipes, am I not?
But hey, I hope you don’t mind, ‘cuz I get the feeling that I will be using them non-recipes more and more, as I am pretty much planning on making all my own condiments from now on…
You see, while I was doing the Whole30, I got into the habit of scrutinizing every single label, for I was to ban everything and anything that contained added sulfites, MSG, carrageenan or well of course… sugar!
I was shocked to find out just how insanely often these nasties get sneaked into our food!
For instance, did you ever read the labels on Balsamic Vinegar? You’d be surprised at how many of them contain added sulfites, food coloring, sugar, or even CARAMEL! Seriously! Caramel.
Sadly, this was NOT the exception. I actually had a hard time finding a bottle that did not contain any of the aforementioned nasties.
Same goes for mustard.
TONS of them contain added sulfites, alcohol and / or sugar!
SERIOUSLY??? What’s a girl to do?
Make her own, that’s what!
While making my own balsamic vinegar at home would be feasible, that might be pushing it a bit. I would take a heck of a chunk of time before it was ready to use!
Mustard, on the other hand…
Now that was a whole different story!
It’s like SO easy to make, and OMG SOOOOOO much better than the storebought stuff, you can’t even begin to imagine. You wouldn’t believe how sweet it is, and tangy, and STRONG! I love it so much, I just want to eat that stuff by the spoonful!
Of course, one of the great benefits of making your own mustard at home is you can flavor it which ever way you want…
Add herbs and spices, such as fresh rosemary, dill, thyme or terragon…
Throw in a handful of sun dried tomatoes, or maybe a few moroccan olives…
Play with your vinegar; try different kinds, like apple cider, white balsamic, white wine or even rice vinegar, why not?
And if you do booze, a good splash of beer, like a dark chocolate stout or a bold red ale, or a little drop of white wine, even…
I’m thinking maybe even fresh ginger, with a hint of vanilla could be extremely interesting.
And of course, there’s always the classic: honey!
Bottom line is, home made mustard is so much fun and easy to make, I could not not share this non-recipe with you…
So here goes the basics:
Start with an equal ratio of mustard seeds to vinegar.
You can play with the ratio of black or brown to yellow seeds if you want. Just make sure you keep the vinegar to seeds ratio at roughly 1:1
I used ½ cup black seeds…
½ cup yellow seeds
1 full cup White Balsamic Vinegar
Gave that a quick stir…
Covered with plastic film and let that stand overnight
(that stayed on the counter for a full 24 hours)
When the mustard seeds have absorbed all of the vinegar, you’re good to go…
Throw them in a small food processor, add ¼ tsp of salt and the juice of half a lime and process until fairly creamy.
As you can see, the yellow seeds will completely break down, whereas the darker ones sort of remain whole for the most part.
Oh, and if you want to add herbs and other flavorings, now would be a good time to do that!
Transfer the mustard to a glass jar and place it in the fridge to macerate for a couple of days…
It’ll only get better, trust me!
Of course, if you’re very impatient like me, you could also use it right away…
And even eat it by the spoonful…
Oh yeah, it’s that good, really!
Best mustard I ever had!
76 Comments on “Homemade Grainy Mustard”
I am a real mustard LOVER! I have been wanting to try my hand at making my own for a while. This might just push me over the edge. It really does look easy. And completely delicious!
You can’t even begin to imagine, Crystal. I was amazed at how much better than store bought and crazy flavorful this stuff was. I still can’t get over it… Make sure you share your thoughts if you do give it a try! 🙂
I love grainy mustard, it is one of ” the must ingredients” in Caesar salad dressing.
Most of my salad dressings incorporate a bit of grainy mustard.
I will be making my own for sure. Thanks Sonia!
Grainy mustard in Caesar dressing? Oh my! I HAVE to try that! 🙂
The pictures looks great.
How long does it last in the fridge?
Several weeks, for sure!
Normally I wouldn’t be that bothered about a bit of alcohol or sugar in mustard, not enough to make my own anyway…but when you mention that you could flavour it with whatever you want…I’m SOLD! I have some wonderful flavoured mustards that I got a while back (horseradish, beer, green peppercorn…) and they’re running out quickly – when they do I’ll definitely be trying your recipe!
It’s not so much about the alcohol and sugar (although these are definitely out during a Whole30) but mostly about the ADDED sulfites and food coloring… Really not a fan!
And oh my… horseradish in mustard!??! Oh my! Why didn’t I think of that? It’s got to be SPECTACULAR! I so have to try that. Thank you so much for the inspiration, Elly! 😀
I think I just got a food boner.
It’d be perfect! Maybe Wasabi instead of horse radish… With medium rare steak… (Sorry – first time to this blog. I’m not sure if vegetarinism is an issue here… is it?). Now…. I’ve just got to find yellow mustard seed……
A food boner? LOL! I love it!
And erm… been paleo for over 18 months now, so vegetarianism definitely not an issue around here. 😉 You can eat and talk about ALL the meat that you want. In fact, it might very well give ME a food boner if you did! Wait, can ladies get food boners, too? Well, I’d be getting the equivalent, anyway! 😉
Given that I’m on a great big giant feminism buzz at the moment, I think the word “boner” needs to be redefined – to a state where a “lady boner” doesn’t need be a thing. Where we’re all free to use the word boner. To free the boner!
I’m trying to work out whether this would work best with a steak, beef wellington or roast beef. The answer’s probably it’d be great with all of ’em! Unfortunately it’s going to be a while until I can try it. I’m currently in a house full of vegetarians.
If anyone does give this a go with wasabi – let me know…
Speaking of food boners…. do you talk in terms of “food porn”? I was out for dinner with a friend and we were totally drooling over the food porn. It had an open kitchen so we could perve at the chef’s tossing the salad. Total food porn – and the food was amazing.
Ah, but food would be the ONLY kind of porn for me! The best part about it is you can look at it all you want “out in the open” and get all of the crazy boners that come with it without people even noticing! 😉 The ultimate scene for me would be something like salted caramel sauce, or silky melted chocolate, or thick, amber maple syrup being poured ever something, anything. That or runny egg yolks… Ooooooh yeah! That’ll get me going! Totally getting one of them “lady boners” just talking about it! 😉
Oh, and as for your dilemma, I would totally go the roast beef route. Has to be very rare, though. Nice and juicy, beautiful dark pink color, and super tender. That’s the only way to go. And poor you living in a house full of vegetarians… I feel for you! Hopefully you get to sneak out for a good dose of real protein, from time to time! 🙂
Sounds wonderful! I was wondering where you get the mustard seeds.Thanks
Mustard seeds are generally available in the spice section of most grocery stores… at least, that’s where I get mine!
Hope this helps!
It never occured to me to make homemade grainy mustard. I love the idea. It looks delish!
Looks delicious! I have also heard you can make grain beer mustard with flat beer. If you were to add the flavoring of a flat beer what step would you add it in?
Thanks! I am looking forward to trying out this recipe!
I would add it in with the vinegar… maybe use a little bit less vinegar and replace it with beer?
Let me know how it turns out, Kristin. Should be pretty awesome! 🙂
Seriously?? Why did I not know it would be so easy to make! I usually have too many mustard seed lying around anyway and this would be so perfect to make! And now…. Adding ginger sounds like heaven… With maybe just a tiny bit of honey… The possibilities are endless!
Simone, I say you should throw in some poppy seeds! (if you still have some leftover, that is…) 😉
Joking aside, I’m thinking that it could work great. Poppy seeds and citrus flavored mustard. YUMMERS!
does it have to be white balsamic vinegar? would white wine vinegar do? i really want to try this
Like I said, Margaret… feel free to experiment with different vinegar and flavors. I’m sure white wine vinegar would work great, or even apple cider.
Let me know what you think, if you do try it! 🙂
Absolutely! Using different vinegars is what gives certain mustards their flavors. I believe white wine vinegar will give your mustard a Dijon style flavor.
I am saving this one to make really soon. Thanks for sharing this idea!
Velva
oohhh my goodness I am a huge fan of homemade sauces and condiments so you can just keep it up!!! Hubby and I both love mustard flavors so I’m pretty excited to make this one!
By the way I featured your Coconut Magic Brownie Bars recipe on my Top 15 Healthiest Tasty Treats list. If you want a badge for your site or just to check it out feel free to look at it out here: http://nickieslittlebubble.blogspot.com/2013/04/the-top-15-healthies-tasty-treats.html Have a good day!
Thanks a bunch for that, Nickie! I truly appreciate your sharing the love! 🙂
Making your own mustard sounds like fun!
That’s amazing! I love eating mustard with a spoon as it is. I’m trying this as soon as possible!
Oh, then you will definitely love this one, Sarah! Mustard was never really something that I would eat with a spoon, but this one I most definitely do! I just can’t believe how sweet it is. 🙂
how long would you say this stays good for?
Months… just like regular mustard!
Trust me, it’ll be long gone before it has a chance to go bad! 🙂
Hmm…. I followed the directions for the ration of seeds to vinegar, and over 27 hours later the seeds have not completely absorbed all the liquid. It’s still pretty liquidy. Should I add more seeds or drain it off?
Are the seeds nice and plump, Colleen? If they are, I would drain the excess vinegar but hold on to it. Process the seeds and add more of that liquid as needed until you reach the desired consistency. Keep in mind that the mustard does get thicker as it sits in the fridge for a few days…
I love mustard, and love this idea. How long do you think it’s good in the fridge? I’m the only mustard lover in my family!
I haven’t tested Tina, for this doesn’t last long in my fridge, but there’s no reason why it should ever go bad, really! I’m thinking that it will last a few months, at least!
I love your ideas about herbs, etc but I would like to be able to print out the recipe without the pics(which are nice but I have made mustard before with the seeds and get that you have to soak, etc.)– I don’t really want to cut and paste all you directions – can you give us a printable recipe? I like your ideas to vary it very much —
Hi there! I made your mustard this afternoon, but oh gosh it tasted so bitter! What did i do wrong?
Bitter? Really? That’s odd. If anything, I found this particular grain mustard to be on the sweet side…
What kind of vinegar did you use?
I used white balsamic … soaked for 24 hours. With equal amounts of yellow and black mustard seeds. Could the mustard seeds have been old?
I don’t think that mustard seeds ever go bad… or vinegar, for that matter. Really, I don’t know what to say! I’m stumped. I guess what I would do, if the mustard still tastes like it wants to become edible, is try adding some date paste or honey to it, and maybe a little bit of salt and pepper. Dried herbs might also help. Or crushed garlic… Hope you manage to save it, Kimmy. Keep me posted!
I’ve grown mustard in my herb garden for this very purpose. I plan to make a variety of mustards. I want to use them for gifts. I saw your answer to how long they keep. What about storing on shelves? Would the jar need to be sealed or would the vinegar serve as a preservative?
I would definitely seal the jars if you were to keep them for an extended period of time, especially on the shelf! I never thought of growing my own mustard to harvest the seeds. I’ll definitely consider that next summer! 🙂
Let me know how the experiment went for you, Kim. This is highly interesting!
How much seed do you get from one mustard plant?
That’s a very good question, Kellyn… perhaps Kim would be able to answer that one?
Can you use balsamic that is not white? I have some great Ariston balsamic vinegar but I was just wondering if it has to be white. Also the photo directions are gorgeous.
Of course you can, Sophia. However, your mustard might have a strange color to it! 😉
And thank you for your kind words, I really appreciate that!
I have been making a recipe almost exactly like this one for some time and I never taste the Mustard right after blending. It is always horribly bitter, most especially if you like it strong and make it only from the Black Seeds. Blend your soaked mixture and let it stand in the fridge for two days before testing.
Thanks for your input, Kevin! That’s extremely useful to know! 🙂
Its not that odd at all. I have recently tried a few times using different branded yellow and black seeds, different vinegars (plain, apple cider etc) and different recipes. The net is full of “bitter mustard” stories with few solutions. Some folk think that letting the mustard mixture stand for a while for it to mellow.
The bitterness is not the horseradish or acidic style sharpness you expect from a “strong” mustard. Its more the mouth-puckering astringent flavour of overpowering bitterness.
I asked my daughter to taste my mustard mix. Her smile was wiped clean off her face, her face contorted and her one eye closed as she whispered something to me in a foreign language. That’s what I mean by bitter.
How much mustard does the recipe yield? I was hoping make this in bulk for Christmas Gifts and need about 33 cups of it.
You’re looking at about 2 cups per recipe.
Trial and error have taught me that home-made mustard can become very bitter depending on how long they are stored at room temperature. If you are sensitive to the bitters (some are more than others) don’t store at room temp for more than 12 hours or just place directly in fridge after mixing the seeds with your liquid of choice. One recipe out there calls for 3 days on the counter! Whew!
Kevin’s right… now I just soak the seeds and place directly in fridge, couple days later I mix up perfection!
I did 5 TBSP of mustard seeds… 2 black and 3 yellow and then 5 TBSP of Tarragon Wine Vinegar… after just 3 hours, it appears that there is no more liquid left! Did I miss something along the way? Should I add more? I was expecting it to take a fill 20-24 hours, and based on some other postings, perhaps have some extra liquid. Any suggestions? Thanks!
It would appear that all mustard seeds aren’t created equal! I’ve always had great success with that one to one ratio, so I don’t really know what to say. I guess I would just leave it be and process it after the prescribed time. So long as they didn’t start to dry out again!
Sulphites are natutally occurring in balsamic vinegar…
That is correct, Josh, and most manufacturers will mention exactly that on their label (as in “contains naturally occurring sulphites”). However, when sulphites appear as part of the list of ingredients, it means they’ve actually been added to the vinegar during production.
Maybe I should add a note to that effect in the post. Thanks for bringing that to my attention.
You need to darken the font on your site… I can barely read it!
I can honestly say that this recipe has made my life infinitely better! Insanely good! You weren’t kidding about eating it by the spoonful. Thank you so much!
Mustard seeds can be purchased in one pound bags from Penzeys online at http://www.penzeys.Com There are also stores in some areas. You won’t be disappointed with whatever spice you try!
hi..
thanks for the great tips..
I have just bought yellow and brown mustard seeds but they seem quite rough and dusty..
do I need to wash them ? if so, how??
Thanks in advance!!!
I think it’s quite normal for mustard seeds to have a somewhat rough and dusty appearance, but if you feel they need to be washed, you can simply place them in a fine mesh sieve and rinse them under cold running water just before you use them.
Since lemon or lime are generally interchangeable with vinegar, I’m curious if you’ve ever tried them?
I’ve been making my own mustard for years, even using a bit of oil, on occasion, but never lemon/lime.
You mean using strictly lemon or lime juice and no vinegar? No, I’ve never tried that… but I’ve used lemon juice instead of lime, and that worked just fine!
Well i’ll give it a shot and let you know!
I made your recipe, very similar to my mums,with great success and later emailed you re how long it would last as was making for school fete. I am now in panic mode as I have a 28 kg bag of mustard seed in my kitchen and the first batch is super bitter. Help!!! The fete is this Saturday. Jennifer
So sorry to hear, Jennifer. So you say it tasted great immediately after you made it but now it’s gone bitter? How long has it been since you made it and did you refrigerate it immediately after making it or did you let it ferment on the counter for a while?
How long would keep for?
Months!
YAY! Cannot wait to make!
Thank you so much!! I am trying this today with more yellow than black seeds and raw apple cider vinegar. Who knew this would be so easy? I am trying to do more and more homemade items and think this would go great with homemade mozzarella and meats, as well as probably anything else!
Awesome! Hope it turns out great, Melinda! 🙂
What can be used instead of white balsamic vinegar
Love this mustard. Most recipes add too much other ‘stuff’, this is pure and simple. I use this mustard in my homemade salad dressings and everyone raves about the unique flavors of my dressings. Thanks! (BTW I use Penzy mustard seeds, they seem fresher to me.)
Glad you like it, Deb! Thanks to you for the great feedback! 🙂
Great recipe with vinegar. For Indian fish curry, we only use the black mustard seeds and blend them into a thick paste with a couple of whole red chilies and some garlic to use in a sauce for salmon in mustard curry. It is strong and very flavorful, but can be used with some Greek yogurt if
you want it milder.