Mustard, a thing that not everyone loves and, if you don't love you, you hate it.
It's one of the things Mr B and I disagree on. Yes, even we disagree on some things just like any other couple.
I love mustard, I even put mustard on my cheese sandwich while Mr B does not like it at all. I am allowed to put a little bit of it in my gravy when I'm cooking but that's it.
When I told him I had made my own mustard and that it had a shelf life of approximately 6 months, he joked that I should have made it earlier so it would have gone bad before he came back home.
And I hear you thinking, why make your own mustard? What is wrong with store-bought mustard?
Well, I'll tell you
Store-bought mustard is fine. It is edible, and it has a long shelf life.
There is a couple of things that I don't like.
1. I am always out of mustard when I feel like eating it.
2. non of the mustards I know specify what spices are actually in it. So I don't know what I'm eating.
3. A lot of mustards have sugar, sweeteners or other unnecessary things in them.
Just for fun, I did some digging into some mustard brand that we sell here in the Netherlands, and some brands that we don't typically find here but, are well known in other countries and I found some weird this that we don't need to be eating. You probably shouldn't even be eating them.
*disclaimer* before I talk about all this.
I am not a medical professional of any kind. All the information that I am about to give you comes from my own experience and research.
now on to the mustard talk:
first up: Kühne, a German brand.
Ingredients:
Water
mustard seeds
vinegar
salt
sugar
spices
Now almost all of these things are completely normal and expected in mustard.
All but one.
Sugar, why the … is there sugar in mustard? We all know sugar is not a healthy thing but we all agree to a little now and then. Well, we think it's just a little. Until we realize in how many products there secretly is sugar.
Okay, no worries yet, let's continue to look at other brands to see what they use for their product.
Next up: Colman's Mustard, an English brand.
Ingredients:
Water
Mustard flour(21%)
sugar
salt
Flour
Turmeric
citric acid
Stabilizer: xanthan gum
First of all, we see a couple of products that we saw in the one from kühne.
I am usually a fan of English products, but like all the others we will talk about today, it gives me questions.
Mustard flour?? that is just ground mustard seeds I guess, which is fine it just depends on how smooth you like your mustard.
And again with the sugar? As I said already, unnecessary.
Next question on the list is flour. The more research I did, the more questions I got but none of them were about flour. So all I can do I guess why there is flour in this mustard, I guess that it is used as a thickener.
In this product we see turmeric and citric acid are also added which to me is pretty normal. Turmeric is added here as a spice, for the flavour that it gives and possibly for its bright yellow colour. Citric acid adds acidity to mustard which gives it a more classic mustard flavour, and this also gives it a longer shelf-life.
and last but not least in this list of ingredients we have Xanthan gum.
this ingredient is not very well known and I can't find a lot about of information about it but as the package says it's used as a stabilizer which makes me think it is used to keep the consistency as it is.
I do have to add that Colman's mustard also sells a mustard powder, this has only one ingredient and that is ground mustard.
So, I have only positive things to say about that one.
As third, we are discussing: Maille, a French brand.
Ingredients:
Water
Mustard seeds
Alcohol Vinegar
Salt
Citric acid
Potassium metabisulphite
The product I used for this article was Maille Dijon Originale.
In this list of ingredients, we see the usual things like mustard seeds, water and salt. But we also see citric acid, alcohol vinegar and potassium metabisulphite, which as you probably guessed, I have questions about.
Citric acid as well as alcohol vinegar are both used as an acidity regulator. You could use any type of vinegar or citric acid in making mustard.
Last on this list of ingredients is potassium metabisulphite.
I hear you thinking, what the …. is that? Well, I'll tell you.
potassium metabisulphite is a chemical preservative which is used in some foods and alcoholic beverages. It can cause nausea, diarrhoea, headaches and it can break down vitamins in the B-group and vitamin E.
Here in the Netherlands this preservative if labelled: 'avoid at all times'. I know that some things will not be labelled the same in all countries so only you can decide where you will get your information and what you feel comfortable eating.
The fourth brand that we have: French's, an American brand.
Ingredients:
Distilled vinegar
Water
Mustard seed
salt
turmeric
Paprika
Spice
Natural flavour
Garlic powder
I see a lot of good thing on this list but, I wouldn't name this brand if I didn't also have something to say about it.
Other than the usual ingredients that make mustard, well... uh mustard, they also added some things to give it a little bit more flavour. They've added turmeric, paprika and garlic powder. All of those are pretty normal to be in any food, they give more flavour to the product.
The first thing that is still left on this list is 'spice' and as I hope that French's doesn't put synthetic cannabinoids to their mustard which is also referred to as 'spice'. I think, in this case, they meant some kind of undefined spice. Who knows what it could be.
Although I would not be surprised if there was actual synthetic cannabinoids or any kind of 'drug' in food sometimes.
the last thing on the list is a mysterious one. Natural flavour. what the …. is 'natural flavour'? Well, nobody knows.
It could be anything, from plant-based flavouring to animal-based flavouring. Nobody knows what is actually in there and it could contain a hundred different things. I find this pretty questionable.
Now that we have discussed all the weird stuff, there is one last brand in want to talk about.
Last but not least: Marne, a Dutch brand.
Ingredients:
Water
mustard seed
sugar
Vinegar
white wine vinegar
salt
herbs and spices
Marne is a brand that I have both good things and bad things to say about. let's talk about the bad things first, sugar again with the sugar. Can we agree on the fact that sugar in your food is unhealthy and unnecessary?
And there they are again, the undefined herbs and spices. I know that nobody wants to give away their recipe, but I think it a good thing to know what you're eating.
For the sake of this article, I used the same kind of mustard from every brand.
As I said before, I am not a professional of any kind. And all the information I share, I gained from personal experience and research.
Speaking of good things, I'll be sharing a super easy recipe for you to make your own mustard, here on my blog in a few days.
So stray tuned for the next one.
Yours truly,
Miss M
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