[Sca-cooks] Commercial Mustard ingredients.

[Ruth Frey]

> > Still hashing this about.  My hope was if 9 out of 10 of your 
> ingredients and 90% by volume of your ingredients must be 
> documented to period, this may well disqualify many commercial 
> sauces or limit their percentages in final sauces.  
> 
> All commercial mustards would still fall within your guidelines. 
> Unaltered.

     What about the tumeric?  I believe that's what give some of the commercial mustards that screaming-yellow color, and I don't recall tumeric on any Period European spice lists . . . That would at least take out *some* of the commercial mustards.

     Just to chime in with a mustard kids might like (if they have a tolerance for hot stuff), I've come up with a slightly-faked version of Sabina Welserin's pear mustard ("For Stockfish," though it goes wonderfully with beef, too).  The faking comes in with the pear preserves; I haven't been able to find any pre-made, and when I don't have time to make my own, I substitute pear "nectar" (juice) for flavor and a little applesauce for texture.  Also, she calls for wine in the recipe, but I've substituted a little vinegar to avoid uncooked-alcohol issues (especially important when serving to kids!).  If you're serving to adults only, however, a little white wine would probably be excellent.  The recipe goes as follows:

4 parts ground yellow mustard seed
2 parts pear juice
1 part apple cider vinegar
2 parts unrefined cane sugar
plus a little "dab" of applesauce

Mix, let stand for about 10-15 minutes, stir again to dissolve all the sugar, and you're ready to go.

Sweet, hot, and popular with all my "tasters."  :)

                 -- Ruth