[Sca-cooks] Commercial Mustard ingredients.

[Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius]

Also sprach Jadwiga Zajaczkowa / Jenne Heise:
>  >
>>       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.
>
>Well, actually, tumeric was imported to Europe at the end of period, and
>it, and preservatives, probably don't add up to 10% of any given
>commercial mustard.
>
>The brown mustards mostly don't have tumeric in them.

I hadn't thought much about this (apart from knowing vaguely that I 
had never seen a period mustard recipe calling for turmeric), so I 
did a quick search and found:

http://homecooking.about.com/library/weekly/aa010101b.htm

Which includes the following passage:

>American Mustard: Also called ballpark mustard or yellow mustard due 
>to its bright color, this mildest-flavored mustard is popular at 
>ball parks as a favored condiment for hot dogs. It is made with 
>white mustard seeds mixed with salt, spices and vinegar, usually 
>with turmeric added to enhance the bright color. This style was 
>first manufactured in 1904 by George T. French as "Cream Salad 
>Mustard," and has become the standard for yellow mustard in America.

Maybe a mustard category with subcategories, such as Lombard, Dijon 
(both of which are period), etc., might work to get people out of the 
mindset (one I most frequently associate with brewers) that says, "X 
is a period thing, therefore any form of X is period."

Adamantius

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