Homemade Mustard

One of my goals this year is to learn to make the condiments I use most. That means mustard, ketchup, barbecue sauce, and mayonnaise. Then I want to go a step further and grow as much of the ingredients as possible. Of course not all in one year's time. It will be an ongoing project for years to come. I have grown brown and white mustard seed one summer three years ago but the harvest wasn't great. My first mistake was putting the seed in the not so fertile old garden. I plan on doing that again this summer. Not the putting it in the old garden but in growing a new crop. Then if all goes well I need to work on a screen that separates the seeds and the chaff. The brown mustard seeds are much smaller than the white and that might create the need for two screens. Then of course I need to come up with a good mustard mixture or two or three if lucky. 

Right now I have just one Ball Park Mustard mixture that I'm not real happy with. It has too much of a bite to it and my tongue gets hung up on the heat and can't find the flavor. It is a problem I have with many peppers and sauces made with them. And yes, mustard has the same hot stuff that peppers have in them so while hubby and our oldest daughter's tongues are finding a wonderful melody in many sauces, mine just screams FIRE!!! It must be a taste bud thing. 

That is my problem with this mustard recipe. I mixed in a little sugar and a little more salt after three weeks of it sitting on the counter but it still is hot. I'm going to do a little more research and tweak the batch once more. Then I think I'll mix another batch up. Was it cold water or was it hot that I'm suppose to use to cool down the heat. I've forgotten but it make a difference I'm told. Plus aging on the counter top versus in the refrigerator changes the heat too. After that is tamed then maybe I can taste the other ingredients and find that melody the family talks about but eludes me. When I get that far I can play with brown mustard and white mustard combinations. There is black mustard too but I'll probably never get that far.

I started with a mustard powder with this recipe. But to be self-sufficient, I need to move on to grinding it myself.  Hmmmmm.... how can I do that with the equipment I have on hand? Would we like a crushed method better? That would be easier to achieve? So many questions and as yet, no answers.

I do know I want to use mustard more in cooking. Not just on hamburgers but in cream sauces or in soups or ..... I don't know yet. My only familiarity with mustard is Ball Park, honey mustard, or Dijon needs expanding. Yes, I'm really mustard naive.

 
But a girl has to start somewhere so Ball Park it is. The mustard of my youth. 

So far the Ball Park Mustard recipe doesn't resemble Ball Park I've ever tasted but that could be my fault. I don't know what I'm doing. 

One thing I know for certain is making mustard was eezy peezy when you buy the powder and I will work from there.

Meanwhile I'll keep hoping the vinegar in the pantry does its thing and I can use it in up coming mustard mixtures. But for now my goal is simply to create a batch of mustard that turns out better than my first.

 An added bonus is that mustard is in the Brassicas family and inhibits the growth of existing cancer cells and prevents them from forming. Surprising how many anti cancer things I'm finding that were a common table fair of our ancestors.

Lessons Learned the Hard Way.

 "In all labor there is profit.", the saying goes. I learned a big one this spring. Last year I used the empty rabbit cages to put hens in when they became broody. Cardboard in the bottom and pine shavings and the hens were thrilled, happily remaining on her eggs until all eggs that were going to hatch, did. It worked great!

But then entered difficulties that accompany a daughter who has been diagnosed with cancer. Things at home did not get done and that included thinning the rabbit population. Hence, the great set up last year with using the rabbit cages was not available. No big deal right? I can just put the first two setters together in the small chicken coop. It is cozy, warm, and plenty of room for two to choose a nesting site. The food and water was nearby and I would be dealing with only one set up and not two in separate rabbit cages. The first few days worked great. Then the bossy hen on the left stole all the eggs from the hen on the right leaving her screaming at the top of her lungs in indignation. Not knowing which eggs were which, I had to leave them with bossy pants and turn the to be first time mama outside. The question then became whether the brown hen would sit on the eggs long enough to hatch them all since they were different ages.

Then a black hen decided to lay and with the Tulsa trip looming, I put her inside as well and crossed my fingers. While gone, our daughter complained that some of the eggs had begun to smell. I told her to hang in there, I'd be back shortly. Shortly turned in to six days and the whole time I was praying that the brown hen would not interrupt the black hen. I came home to a stinking coop and planned on doing something the next day when the brown hen hatched two chicks and was running all around in a tizzy worrying over them. She had forgotten the eggs she was suppose to be setting on. They were now cold and dead. Maybe it was my mood after a long week at Tulsa but I snatched up her chicks and shooed her out into the yard. The chicks I put under a heat lamp. I was in no mood to baby her when she had only 2.

The 2 chicks would not be alone for long since Australorps were due into the feed store any day. My Australorps did not come but ducks did. Now we had 2 ducks and 2 chicks, with Australorps joining them the next week and a couple days later four ducks. That was when I discovered two chicks running around with the black hen. She had abandoned her other eggs too. This set up definitely does not work. We now have quite the batch of mismatch ages of ducks and chicks. Its okay, they get along fine and a big lesson was learned - use the rabbit cages for broody hens. That is where the profit comes in - maybe not financially but I now know what does not work for us.