Mustard

“ One of the merchants, to whom this industrious old lady sold her mustard, is credited with saying that he owed his wealth, not to the mustard which people ate but to that which they left on their plates. Two varieties of mustard are cultivated, one producing white seeds, the other, seeds which are tiny and black. ”

“ Genuine mustard, either in powder, or in the state of a paste ready for use, is perhaps rarely to be met with in the shops. The article sold under the name of genuine Durham mustard, is usually a mixture of mustard and common wheaten flour, with a portion of Cayenne pepper, and a large quantity of bay salt, made with water into a paste, ready for use. Some manufacturers adulterate their mustard with radish-seed and pease flour. ”

“ The stuff you buy is half drugs; and is injurious to health. A yard square of ground, sown with common Mustard, the crop of which you would grind for use, in a little mustard-mill, as you wanted it, would save you some money, and probably save your life. Your mustard would look brown instead of yellow; but the former colour is as good as the latter: and, as to the taste, the real mustard has [Pg 117] certainly a much better than that of the drugs and flour which go under the name of mustard. Let any one try it, and I am sure he will never use the drugs again. ”

“ The pungency of taste which so many of them possess has caused them to be used for salad herbs. Thus we have cress, water-cress, and mustard; to which might be added many more which grow wild, as lady-smock, wild-rocket, hedge-mustard, and jack-by-the-hedge, or sauce-alone. Mustard, you know, is also greatly used for its seeds, the powder or flower of which, made into a sort of paste with salt and water, is eaten with many kinds of meat. ”

“ French Mustard Sauce, Creole Style.—Work together three tablespoonfuls mustard and one cupful sugar, then beat in one egg until smooth. Add one cupful of vinegar a little at a time, set over the fire and cook three or four minutes stirring constantly. When cold add one tablespoonful olive oil beating all well together.
An Excellent Mustard Sauce for Cold Meat.—Two teaspoonfuls flour, one teaspoonful sugar, one teaspoonful mustard, a little pepper and salt. Mash all together, add boiling water, to make thick paste. Beat constantly till lumps are all out. ”

“ Every manufacturer has his own particular formula, and consequently there are many different qualities, both in the pure mustard and the compounds. One is composed of 37 per cent brown and 50 per cent white mustard flour, 10 per cent of rice flour, 3 per cent of black pepper, a little Chili pepper and ginger.
Pure mustard oil, as pressed from the seed, is not pungent and will not blister unless mixed with water.
The English mustard seed is the best in the world. Of this class 4,995,800 lbs. of seed and 1,307,202 lbs. of flour were imported during the year 1908. ”

“ It is to take this packet of mustard seeds, hide it in the bosom of your dress, and when you ride to the palace with your husband, strew the seed along the path as you go. You know how quickly mustard grows. ”

“ Obs. Mustard is the best of all the stimulants that are employed to give energy to the digestive organs. It was in high favour with our forefathers; in the Northumberland Household Book for 1512, p. 18, is an order for an annual supply of 160 gallons of mustard.
Some opulent epicures mix it with sherry or Madeira wine, or distilled or flavoured vinegar, instead of horseradish water.
The French flavour their mustard with Champaigne and other wines, or with vinegar flavoured with capers, anchovies, [260] tarragon, elder, basil, burnet, garlic, eschalot, or celery, see No. 395 to No. ”

“ It grows extensively wild and is also largely cultivated. The mustard seed forms one of the most important condiments of commerce. The mustard is often ground before it is sold, and frequently it is mixed with other spices and with oils and is known as prepared mustard. This latter variety is subjected to all kinds of adulterations, frequently containing very little mustard but with enough turmeric to give the preparation a yellow color resembling that attributed to the pure article. ”

“ A saltspoonful of salt added to each tablespoonful of mustard not only improves the flavour, but it also prevents the mustard from becoming so quickly dry. If desired, the pungency may be greatly increased by mixing a little chilli vinegar and cayenne with the mustard, the flavour of the whole being softened by the addition of a good pinch of sugar. On the other hand, when a very mild flavour of mustard is liked, it may be obtained by using cream or milk, preferably the former, instead of water. ”

“ It was customary in Italy to keep the mustard in balls till it was wanted, and these balls were made up with honey or vinegar and a little cinnamon added. When the mustard was required, the ball was “relented” with a little more vinegar. Canon Ellacombe says: “Balls were the form in which Mustard was usually sold, till Mrs Clements of Durham, in the last century, invented the method of dressing mustard flour like wheat flour and made her fortune with Durham Mustard!” We cultivate Sinapis nigra for its seed and Sinapis alba as a small salad herb. ”

“ Table Mustard: Mix well together two tablespoonfuls dry mustard, scant teaspoon sugar, half a teaspoon salt. Wet smooth, to a very stiff paste with boiling water, then add either a teaspoon of onion juice, or a clove of garlic mashed, stir well [194] through, add little by little, a tablespoonful olive oil, then thin, with very sharp vinegar, added gradually so as not to lump nor curdle, to the consistency of thin cream. Put in a glass jar, seal tight and let stand a week. A month is better—indeed, the mustard improves with age if not permitted to dry up. ”

“ This black Mustard is a tall smooth plant, having entire leaves, and smooth seed pods, being now grown for the market on rich alluvial soil chiefly in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire. In common with its kindred plants it gets its name from mustum, the "must," or newly fermented grape juice, and ardens, burning, because as a condiment, Mustard flour was formerly mixed with home-made wine and sugar. The virtues of black Mustard depend on the acrid volatile oil contained in its seeds. These when unbruised and macerated in boiling water yield only a tasteless mucilage which resides in their skin. ”

“ The Mustard Bran is about twenty-five per cent. of the cost of table mustard.
Mustard Maintains Health
The experiment with mustard, with the eighteen hens, was carried on over a term of twelve months. We do not believe, however, that it is wise to feed mustard to the layers and breeders after June 15th, unless the early months of Summer should prove to be exceptionally cool. The mustard nourishes very strongly and puts an immense amount of red corpuscles into the blood, so that if continued into warm weather the hen is not in best condition to stand extreme Summer heat. ”

“ Take good flour of mustard; put it in a plate, add to it a little salt, and mix it by degrees with boiling water to the usual consistence, rubbing it for a long time with a broad-bladed knife or a wooden spoon. It should be perfectly smooth. The less that is made at a time the better it will be. If you wish it very mild, use sugar instead of salt, and boiling milk instead of water.
KEEPING MUSTARD.— Dissolve three ounces of salt in a quart of boiling vinegar, and pour it hot upon two ounces of scraped horseradish. Cover the jar closely and let it stand twenty-four hours. ”

“ Mustard is in daily use at our tables, and the seeds, whole or bruised, are employed in pickles, and for numerous other culinary purposes. These seeds yield, on pressure, a considerable quantity of oil, which is soft and insipid to the taste, and partakes but little of the acrimony of the plant.
Different preparations of mustard are sometimes used in medicine. The seeds, taken internally, are serviceable in asthma, rheumatism, and palsy. Cataplasms of mustard are employed, on account of its stimulating properties, on benumbed or paralytic limbs. ”

“ To make a mustard plaster, or sinapism, take one part of powdered mustard, and about three times the quantity of flour and mix into a paste with tepid water, and spread it evenly between two pieces of thin muslin. As hot water or vinegar weakens the active principle of mustard, tepid water is best, even if it seems cold when applied to the patient. ”

“ By his office he had to see to the supply and preparation of all the mustard used in seasoning the dishes and by the brethren in the various places where food was partaken, such as the refectory, guest-hall, infirmary, etc. This was by no means the unimportant office we might in these days be inclined to consider it, as it was then considered useful if not necessary to take mustard with all salted food, flesh or fish. The quantity thus required in a large establishment was very considerable. The salter was also expected to make some, if not all, the sauces required for certain dishes. ”

“ They are far too nutritious to be eaten with a dozen other things. Their proper use is to substitute the joint in an ordinary respectable meal of meat and pudding.
[13] Before the Adulteration Act was passed, mustard flour was usually mixed with well-dried wheaten flour, whereby the redundant oil was absorbed, and the mixture was a dry powder. Now it is different, being pure powdered mustard seed, and usually rather damp. It not only lies closer, but is much stronger. Therefore, in following any recipe of old cookery-books, only about half the stated quantity should be used. ”

“ Plasters and Poultices—Mustard Plasters.—Take a sufficient quantity of bread crumbs finely rubbed, add mustard in proportion to the required strength; form a poultice of the proper consistency, by adding vinegar or water. Dr. Wood thinks water preferable, as he is of the opinion that vinegar destroys an essential property of the mustard. Mustard employed for this purpose should be whole grain, fresh as can be procured, and bruised or mashed in a mortar, or by any other convenient means. When mustard cannot be procured, horse radish leaves may be substituted ”

“ Must, must, n. an occasional state of dangerous frenzy in adult male elephants.
Mustache. Same as Moustache.
Mustang, mus′tang, n. the wild horse of the American prairies: (U.S.) a naval officer from the merchant service in the Civil War.
Mustard, mus′tard, n. a plant of the genus Brassica, formerly classed as Sinapis, having a pungent taste: the seed thereof ground and used as a seasoning for meat, as a plaster, &c.—French mustard, mustard prepared for table by adding salt, sugar, vinegar, &c.; Wild mustard, the charlock. [O. Fr. mostarde (Fr. moutarde) —L. mustum, must.] ”

“ COMMON MUSTARD is made from the powdered seeds of a plant (Sinapis nigra) , which grows wild in corn-fields and by road sides, in most parts of England, and is known by its yellow cruciform flowers, with expanding calyx, and its pods being smooth, square, and close to the stem. In light and otherwise barren lands mustard is cultivated to great advantage. That which is produced in the county of Durham has much celebrity ”

“ The simplest, the cleanest, and most efficacious for ordinary purposes, we believe to be the following: Take a piece of soft flannel, dip it in boiling water, wring it out immediately, and sprinkle one side of it with fresh flour of mustard. The flannel should be laid upon a hot plate while being sprinkled, that no warmth may be lost. Another way of making a mustard poultice is by spreading a large tablespoonful of mustard, made in the ordinary way as if for table, on a piece of soft linen, and warming it before the fire when it is to be applied. ”

“ If a person be struck with lightning, throw pailfuls of cold water on the head and body, and apply mustard poultices on the stomach, with friction of the whole body, and inflation of the lungs. When no other emetic can be found, pounded mustard seed, taken a teaspoonful at a time, will answer. The ground mustard is not so effectual, but will do. ”

“ They are both of the easiest culture, and will not only grow in any soil or situation, but may even be raised for the table by spreading the seed in a saucer on wet flannel. The flour of mustard is made from the ground seeds of the black mustard, which is cultivated extensively in some parts of England for that purpose.
Corn Salad or Lamb Lettuce, Winter Cress, Burnet, Tansey, and many other plants are occasionally used in salads, particularly on the Continent, but they are seldom grown for that purpose in England. ”

“ The common practice of preparing mustard for the table with vinegar, or still more, with boiling water, materially checks the development of those peculiar principles on which its pungency or strength almost entirely depends. ”

“ White mustard is said to be richer than black in myrosin, so that, as explained in the previous article, the pungency of the latter may be often increased by an addition of white mustard. By burning white mustard dried at 100° C., with soda-lime, we obtained from 4·20 to 4·30 per cent. of nitrogen, answering to about 28 per cent. of protein substances. [299] The fixed oil of the seed amounts to 22 per cent. The mucilage as yielded by the epidermis is precipitable by alcohol, neutral lead acetate, or ferric chloride, and is soluble in water after drying. ”

“ The odour is totally distinct from that of roast beef, and yet it is beef incontestable. Hot, of course with carrots, it is a dish for a king; but cold it is nobler. Oh, the thin broad slice, with just its fringe of consistent fat!
We are sparing of condiments, but such as we use are the best that man has invented. And we know how to use them. I have heard an impatient innovator scoff at the English law on the subject of mustard, and demand why, in the nature of things, mustard should not be eaten with mutton. ”