Spicy or sweet, burning or tender - mustard has several cooking recipes. Each of them is assigned to a certain country and is considered traditional for it. Europeans prefer a mild flavor, Russians like it sharper - everyone can choose the most pleasant option for themselves.
What is mustard? What are they made of?
Mustard is a popular seasoning from light yellow to brown, which is obtained as a result of processing grains of the same plant. When adding additional ingredients, such as salt, sugar, water, vegetable oil, various food additives, the mass becomes like a sauce, it is easy to spread on sandwiches, used for baking meat and as an independent seasoning for cold dishes and snacks.
Whole or ground grains are suitable for preparing mustard. Whole seeds have a brighter spicy aromatic taste, so they are mainly used for baking meat. Due to the high content of mustard oil in the composition of the grains, a dense crust forms on the meat, and inside it remains juicy and unusually soft.
Mustard made from powder is usually served as a sauce. Depending on taste preferences, it can be sharp, as Russians like, or soft, which Europeans prefer.
Mustard History
It is believed that the birthplace of this spicy seasoning is Asia. But what mustard, the photo of which is presented below, was known already in ancient times. There are references to the seeds of plants in manuscripts written in Sanskrit, whose age is five thousand years.
The ancient Greeks added it to food, and the Romans made a paste from seeds, which was very similar to today's seasoning. There are references to mustard seeds in the Bible. Since the 18th century, the plant has been grown in Russia. The variety of mustard mustard is common here . Its name comes from the city of Sarept, now part of Volgograd. Mustard grows well in the Russian Federation in the Volga region, in the North Caucasus and in Siberia. The leaders in the cultivation and processing of mustard seeds are the countries of Central Asia, Pakistan, India, China, Egypt, as well as the European states of France and Holland.
Beneficial features
It has long been known that mustard is an excellent warming agent, so it is widely used in the pharmaceutical industry, in particular in the manufacture of mustard plasters. But the useful properties of the spice do not end there. It is effective not only with external use, but also with food. What is mustard as a sauce, everyone has tried, but, in addition to the piquant taste, it can also bring benefits to the body.
Mustard grains contain about 30% fat (mostly unsaturated fatty acids). In addition, the seeds of the plant contain essential oils, linolenic, peanut, oleic acid, vitamins of groups B, A, C, trace elements: zinc, iron, sodium, magnesium and calcium. Thanks to this composition, incredibly healthy mustard oil is obtained from grains. In addition, the seeds of this plant contain substances that help with bronchitis.
One of the properties of mustard is the ability to accelerate metabolic processes in the body and break down fats. Therefore, it is useful to include this spicy seasoning not only in the composition of the daily diet, but also to make various masks and body wraps. Mustard is an antioxidant, has antiseptic and antibacterial properties.
Three varieties of mustard
In total, about 40 varieties of the plant are known, from which spicy seasoning is obtained, but the most common are white, black and sarepta mustard.
White, or English mustard, contains 35% fatty and 1% essential oil. That is why it is widely used in the manufacture of mustard oil. The seeds of this plant are the largest of all the varieties represented. They are added to pickles, vegetable, mushroom dishes and soups. Grains do not have a pronounced taste and smell, so when making mustard from them, various food additives should be used.
Black, or French mustard, is also called real. It has a sharp tart taste, and smells like horseradish. Due to this, the bulk of the grains goes to the production of table mustard. Powdered seeds are used to make a heating patch.
What is sarepta mustard? In the world she is known as Russian. It has a maximum percentage of fatty (up to 49%) and essential (3%) oils. They make fragrant mustard oil from it. Its use for the body is even higher than that of sunflower. The cake that remains after processing the grains is used to produce powder. Dining Russian mustard has a pronounced sharpness.
Varieties of mustard
When various ingredients are added to grains or powder, the palatability of the finished product changes. Which nutritional supplements to use depends on the variety of the plant and the preferences of customers from around the world. Therefore, the industrial production of table mustard involves a wide selection of varieties of this product.
The most popular recipes: French Dijon mustard, traditional English, made according to an old recipe, sweet Bavarian (Munich), spicy Russian and American.
The famous Dijon mustard. What it is?
In the main city of Burgundy, located in the south-east of France, called Dijon, from the 17th century, industrial production of table mustard and vinegar was organized. And already in the middle of the 18th century, the most demanded Dijon mustard in the world began to be produced here. What it is? Initially, it was a seasoning obtained from ground black mustard seeds with the addition of sour juice of unripened grapes. Prior to this, vinegar was traditionally used in the production of this product. Thanks to this, the sauce acquired a creamy texture, became tender and light and quickly gained popularity.
Today, what Dijon mustard is, the photo of which is presented in the review, is known all over the world. Half of all seasoning production falls on this particular variety. There are more than 20 recipes for preparing Dijon mustard: with the addition of white wine or wine vinegar instead of sour juice, herbs, spices and other food additives.
Gentle french mustard. Home-made recipe
The most popular seasoning in the world, made in France, is Dijon. But sometimes the concept of "French mustard" is used in some recipes. What it is? This is a real Dijon mustard made from black grains or a mixture of seeds of different varieties.
To prepare French Dijon seasoning, you need to take 250 g of mustard powder obtained after grinding black and sarepta mustard seeds, and pour 90 ml of boiling water. Mix the mixture thoroughly and leave to infuse in a dark place for a day. After the indicated time, add 100 ml of white wine vinegar, 10 g of salt, 50 g of sugar, cinnamon and cloves (1 g each) and shallots to the mustard mass. Tender French mustard is ready!
Today you can find a lot of other simple recipes for making this wonderful sauce. It might be worth trying to cook a few of them to find your favorite version of mustard.
Piquant grit
Often in the production of seasoning, the seeds are not ground into powder, but are used in their entirety. So it turns granular mustard. What it is, it is clear from its name. This is mustard, consisting of whole or slightly crushed grains. Along with traditional ingredients in this composition there is white wine. Natural spices are added to it, for example, cloves, cardamom, garlic, allspice.
Granular mustard is considered more refined. Thanks to its spicy flavor, it is used for baking meat and added to salads.
Sweet bavarian sauce
In Russia, it is believed that mustard should be spicy. But this is far from the case. What is clearly shown by Bavarian sweet mustard.
What it is, it became known back in the 19th century, together with the invention of the ideal sauce for white Munich veal sausages. Its main feature is coarse grains in combination with caramel syrup. Bavarian mustard of brown color, sweet in taste and soft in texture, has a light piquancy.
It is useful to know what mustard is and what properties it has. This allows you to widely use it in your diet for the benefit of the body and improve culinary skills.