My ears perk up any time I hear about anything that is famous for being store-bought, being made from scratch in a home kitchen. I had heard mustard was easy to make at home, but had never pursued it, the main reason being that my husband has mustard problems. From guacamole to puttanesca, ‘you’ll never guess my secret ingredient’ is almost always mustard. I started to think about how I could turn this into a good thing (at least nutritionally, some things just taste better without mustard believe it or not) and as it turns out, I think I have.
Mustard is easy to make. If you have a blender and you know how to turn it on, that is all of the culinary prowess required. Traditionally it is made with mustard seeds, vinegar, white wine and salt. Not bad, but there is room for improvement, especially if we are making it ourselves anyway.
For starters, lets leave out the wine, I’d rather save up those little bits of wine in my food here and there, for a glass of champagne once in a while, wouldn’t you? And it won’t make a huge difference in flavour. Now let’s swap in raw (unpasteurized) apple cider vinegar for the vinegar. Raw acv is naturally fermented, full of enzymes to support digestion and also has anti-bacterial, anti-viral and anti-fungal properties, therefore an obvious ingredient sub for this recipe. Seaweed salt in place of salt is a given, too.
So that leaves the mustard seeds. Did you know they are from the cruciferous family, just like broccoli, cabbage and kale? They already have a lot going for them, nutritionally. There are different types of mustard seeds out there, and each type brings something a little bit different to the party. Once I realized that I was running a little bit low on mustard seeds in my spice drawer, I remembered that I had a big bag of ‘Oriental mustard seeds’ that I had been using for mustard sprouts.
They make crazy horseradish/wasabi-style hot mustard. I’m not surprised because they also make deliciously spicy sprouts. I highly recommend using the oriental mustard seeds if that does it for you (it so does it for me), but if you are sensitive to heat, going through treatment, are a little kid or just like mustard the way it normally is, stick to brown/yellow/red mustard seeds. Still good.
I always have a big supply of broccoli seeds to make broccoli sprouts from. They take a few days to sprout and contain all of the cancer-crushing potential of their bigger, future selves, all bundled up in a tinier, grow-it-in-a-jar, apartment-friendly package. Broccoli sprouts are one of the most affordable, easiest, potent, diy cancer fighting tools out there, and deserve their own post, so let’s just leave it there for now. Those broccoli seeds, though, will they make ‘mustard’? They’re from the same family after all.
The answer is no. No they won’t. They lack the thickening agent that mustard seeds naturally contain. However, that doesn’t mean that they won’t make a brilliant (if I may say so myself) addition to this mustard recipe. The good news is they don’t make the mustard taste like old broccoli after a few days, which was my initial fear. In fact, although the cancer cells might, you won’t really notice the broccoli seeds at all.
Edited to let you know that we actually sprout the broccoli seeds now (as suggested by Mirek in the comments below -thanks Mirek). Now you can eat your enzyme-rich, cancer-crushing broccoli sprouts in the form of mustard (!)
I have made 3 different mustard recipes for this post: a basic Dijon-style, a yellow, ‘ballpark’ mustard (hello anti-inflammatory powers of turmeric), and a sweeter date/garlic. All are delicious in their own right, and can be used interchangeably in salad dressings, collard wraps, to top off one of these, or to simply toss 2 Tbsp together with a cup of soaked almonds, and bake at 250*F for 2 hours for a cancer-crushing snack.
I buy my sprouting seeds, including the Oriental mustard and broccoli seeds from Mumm’s Sprouting Seeds (sprouting.com), a family-run company based out of Saskatchewan. They have a large variety of seeds for sprouting (or mustard-ing), all are certified organic, (and therefore, also non-gmo) and they also carry sprouting supplies. I contacted them a few weeks ago to ask if they would offer my readers a discount to kick off their mustard/sprouting journey, and they were more than happy to oblige. So for the month of November, using the discount code CrushCancer (or mentioning it on phone orders) will get you a 10% discount on their website. They ship throughout Canada as well as to the USA and internationally. Check them out on Facebook and Twitter too.
(This post is NOT sponsored by Mumm’s Sprouting Seeds, I am simply a sprouting fangirl.)
- ⅓ c Mustard Seeds (any colour or a mixture)
- ¼ c Broccoli Seeds
- ¾ c Raw Apple Cider Vinegar
- ¼ c Water
- ¼ tsp Sea(weed) Salt
- ⅓ c Mustard Seeds (any colour or a mixture)
- ¼ c Broccoli Seeds
- ¾ c Raw Apple Cider Vinegar
- ¼ c Water
- 2 tsp Turmeric
- ¼ tsp Sea(weed) Salt
- Several grinds of Black Pepper (to optimize turmeric absorption)
- ⅓ c Mustard seeds (any colour or mixture)
- ¼ c Broccoli Seeds
- ¾ c Raw Apple Cider Vinegar
- ¼ c Water
- 4 Dates, pitted and soaked in water to soften
- 1½ tsp Dried Garlic
- ¼ tsp Sea(weed) Salt
- Soak the broccoli seeds in water for 3-4 hours, drain them well and then sprout for 3 days (keep covered with a clean cloth/cheesecloth, in a mason jar, rinsing and draining well twice a day.)
- Soak the mustard seeds in the vinegar, water and salt, covered, for two whole days.
- After two days, pour it all into a blender (with the broccoli sprouts) and blend until smooth.
- Store in a covered vessel in the fridge for several months.
- Soak the broccoli seeds in water for 3-4 hours, drain them well and then sprout for 3 days (keep covered with a clean cloth/cheesecloth, in a mason jar, rinsing and draining well twice a day.)
- Soak the mustard seeds in the vinegar, water and salt, covered, for two whole days.
- After two days, pour it all into a blender with the turmeric and pepper, and blend until desired smoothness.
- Store in a covered vessel in the fridge for several months.
- Soak the broccoli seeds in water for 3-4 hours, drain them well and then sprout for 3 days (keep covered with a clean cloth/cheesecloth, in a mason jar, rinsing and draining well twice a day.)
- Soak the mustard seeds, salt and dates in the vinegar and water, covered, for two whole days.
- After two days, pour it all into a blender with the dried garlic, and blend until desired smoothness.
- Store in a covered vessel in the fridge for up to a month.
That’s a good idea, it’s a sneaky way to eat more sprouts too!
I like to barely sprout my mustard seeds then make mustard with them. Adds a bit of a green taste but very tasty and healthy!
Interesting, thanks Mirek, I’m going to try this. I wonder what it would do for the shelf life? I’m literally going to do this right now.
To make your mustard even more healthy,try first to sprout your mustard/broccoli seeds ,it is a must/ key to unblock antinutrients in dormant seed. Proteins(not only) absorbtion is multiplied by sprouting .
Best wishes,
Mirek
Isn’t it easy?! I’m so glad you made some.
This mustard totally worked! It was a lot easier than I would have imagined. I even used Mumm’s mustard seeds (they had the seeds to me in less than a week), and they were great. I’ve given a few batches to friends who also really liked it.