[Sca-cooks] Commercial Mustard ingredients.

[Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius]

Also sprach Sue Clemenger:
>Okay, I was actually wondering this, recently, anyways, but:
>What exactly makes a mustard a "dijon" mustard? I thought maybe 
>consistency, but I've seen it for sale as both smooth, and chunkier 
>(still showing evidence of the seeds, almost a whole-grain mustard). 
>I was a bit disgruntled, having to actually buy some of the stuff 
>(for a modern recipe) when I could so easily have made my own (in 
>the broad middle of a mustard project for A&S Competition).

I believe Dijon mustard is a style characterized today by the 
addition of salt, vinegar and white wine to the ground mustard.

The Larousse Gastronomique sez:
"In 1390 the manufacture of mustard was governed by regulations: it 
had to be made from 'good seed and suitable vinegar', without any 
other binder. The corporation of vinegar and mustard manufacturers 
was founded at the end of the 16th century at Orleans and in about 
1630 at Dijon. In the 18th century, a Dijon manufacturer called 
Naigeon fixed the recipe for 'strong' or 'white' mustard, the 
production of which was synchronized with the wine harvest, as the 
black and brown seeds were mixed with verjuice. Today, Dijon mustard 
is prepared with verjuice and white wine, Orleans mustard with white 
vinegar, and Bordeaux mustard, which is milder and brown in color, 
with grape must (the French word for mustard is derived from moute 
ardent, i.e. 'piquant must'). Meaux mustard, which owes its flavor 
and color to coarsely crushed seeds of various colors, is made with 
vinegar, particularly at Lagny."

I'd bet there's a Grey Poupon web site with a little more historical 
information. Some of it might even be accurate, but in general when a 
place name is attached to a wine, a cheese, etc., there are some kind 
of standards for determining style, outside of which it is illegal 
(somewhere) to use that name...

Adamantius

-- 
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