Mustard

As Sharp as Mustard

By the 9th century, French monasteries were generating considerable income from mustard sales. By the 13th century, Parisian merchants included mustard among their daily sauces for sale. Pope John XXII of Avignon (1249-1334) loved mustard so much that he created the post of “Grand Moutardier du Pape” (Grand Mustard-Maker to the Pope), Grey Poupon Mustardand gave the job to an idle nephew who lived near Dijon. Dijon soon became the mustard center of the world. Mustard-making was so important that in 1634, a law was passed to grant the men of the town the exclusive right to make mustard.

Tewkesbury Mustard Balls

Legend has it that Tewkesbury Mustard Balls covered in gold leaf were presented to Henry VIII when he visited Tewkesbury in 1535. So here we present you with a condiment fit for a king.

The women of Tewkesbury gathered the ingredients from the fields and river banks about the town. A cannonball in an iron mortar was used to crush the mustard grain to a fine flour.

Horseradish was a common weed around Tewkesbury and was used to make the condiment hotter, but it caused great suffering during the preparation of the root because, before being soaked in cider or cider vinegar, the fumes are a painful irritant to the eyes.

Renowned for their excellence since mediaeval times, Tewkesbury mustard balls were sent all over the country. Although the precise recipe has been lost, the ingredients were simply local grown mustard seed, mixed with an infusion of horseradish, formed into balls and then allowed to dry on a board.

The customer would then cut off as much as was required and steep it in water, milk, cider or cider vinegar until it was workable. The resultant mustard was “thick and pungent”.

Historical Reviews

By 1662, Tewkesbury mustard was considered the best in England by Thomas Fuller, in The Histories of Worthies of England.

In 1712 Sir Robert Atkins, in his New History of Gloucestershire, found Tewkesbury ‘remarkable for making balls of the best Mustard’.

Sayings

  • As sharp as if he lived on Tewkesbury mustard

  • As thick as Tewkesbury mustard

  • To cut the mustard (to reach expectation – based on cutting the mustard balls)

  • Moonshine in a mustard pot (meaning nothing)

  • To love as a cat loves mustard (to love something that is bad for you)



Just rolled mustard balls.

Grinding the horseradish in a molcajete.

Tewkesbury mustard balls drying.

Experimenting with soaking whole seeds and then partially grinding them.

Tewkesbury Mustard Balls.pdf

Additional Mustard Recipes:

From an old Icelandic Medical Miscellany (supposed to be 15th century from a lost manuscript of the 13th century)

One shall take mustard (seed) and add a fourth part of honey and grind all together with good

vinegar. This is good for forty days.

One shall take mustard (seed) and a third of honey and a tenth part of anise and two such of cin-

namon. Grind this all with strong vinegar and put it in a cask. This is good for three months.

From the Dutch Eenen Nyeuwen Coock Boeck (1560), written by Gheeraert Vorselman and translated by Lord

Floris van Montfort (G.A. van heusden) of the Shire of Polderslot.

Om drooghen mostaerd te maken.opt Rooms

Droocht nieuwe mostaertsaet in die heete sonne oft oven oft bijden viere, ende stoot dat in eenen

vijsere tot cleynnen mele, ende maeckt hier af een deech met stercken azijn ende een cleyn luttel

greynpoeders ende laet dan dat tot eenen stuck ligghen drooghen.

(Translation)

To make dry mustard in the Roman way.

Dry new mustard seed in the hot sun or in the oven or at the fire, and crush it in a mortar to fine

flour and make a dough with this and with strong vinegar and a little grain powder and let dry to

one piece.

Anderen mostaert opt Rooms,wit

Neemt mostaertsaet ende legget twee daghen in water te weycke, ende veranderet water dicwil, so

sal hi te witter ende beter zijn ende stootten oft wrijften wel cleyne. Dan doeter toe amandelen

cleyn ghestooten, ende wrijvet weder tesamen met witbroot dat geweyct is; dan doeget samen

door met stercken azijn oft verjus. Wildien sterc hebben, doeter stercke specerie in, wildien soet

hebben, doeter soet in.

(Translation)

Different mustard the Roman way, white.

Take mustard seed and lay it two days to soak in water, and change the water often, so it will be

whiter and better and crush them small. Then add almonds crushed small and rub it together

with whitebread that has soaked; then mix it with strong vinegar or verjuice. IF you want it

strong, add strong spices, and if you want it sweet, add sweet.

From The Viandier of Taillevent (13th century), translated by Terence Scully [Cameline Mustard Sauce]:

(Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press, 1988)

Take mustard, red wine, cinnamon powder and enough sugar, and let everything steep together.

It should be thick like cinnamon. It is good for any roast.

Das Kuchbuch der Sabrina Welserin (1553):

To make the mustard for dried cod

Take mustard powder, stir into it good wine and pear preserves and put sugar into it, as much as

you feel is good, and make it as thick as you prefer to eat it, then it is a good mustard.

The 14th-c. Catalan “ Llibre de Sent Sovi”

“to make mustard our way”, with finely ground mustard seed, broth, and honey or

sugar, pointing out that “the French style” is tempered with vinegar rather than broth.

England, late 15th c., MS Pepys 1047

To make sauce for A pyke

Take the refette (28.1) of the pyke and mynse hit small and put hit yn A dyshe and take a gode

mese of musterd And put of the best and fattest of þe broth a.... (28.2) the saucer and shakyd and

put hit in to the dyshe with the refete and put yn a litell vyneAger and a lytell vergys ther to And

a grete quantite of Syamom & sugure and lityll gynger and as ye fele hit with your mowth ye may

all way amend hit.

Modern Translation:

Take the edible viscera (28.1) of a pike and mince small; set aside. Combine mustard and broth

thoroughly (28.2) and then mix with the viscera. Add a little vinegar & verjuice & season with

cinnamon, sugar, and a little ginger. Taste for flavor and adjust as necessary.

The 13th-c. Arabo-Andalusian Manuscrito anonimo gives the following recipe for “Sinab” as a good recipe for pork:

Clean good mustard and wash it with water several times, then dry it and pound it until it is like

antimony [?]. Sift it with a sifter of hair, and then pound shelled almonds and put them with

the mustard and stir them together. Then press out their oil and mash them with breadcrumbs

little by little, not putting in the breadcrumbs all at once but only little by little. Then pour strong

vinegar and eggs over this dough for the dish, having dissolved sufficient salt in the vinegar. Then

dissolve it well to the desired point, and clarify it thoroughly with a clean cloth; and there are

hose who after it is clarified add a little honey to lessen its heat.


The original text of the recipe for mustard is taken from Le Menagier de Paris in the edition of Brereton and Ferrier (1981 p.258, see bibliography).

Moustarde. Se vous voulez faire provision de moustarde pour garder longuement, faictes la en vendenges de moulx doulx. Et aucuns dient que le moulx soit bouly.

Item, se vous voulez faire moustarde en ung village a haste, broiez du senevé en ung mortier et deffaictes de vinaigre, et coulez par l’estamine. Et se vous la voulez tantost faire parer, mectez la en ung pot devant le feu.

Item, et se vous la voulez faire bonne et a loisir, mectez le senevé tremper par une nuyt en bon vinaigre, puis la faictes bien broyer au moulin, et bien petit a petit destremper de vinaigre. Et se vous avez des espices qui soient de remenant de gelee, de claré, d’ypocras ou de saulses, si soyent broyez avec et après la laisser parer.

Mustard. If you want to make a supply of mustard that will keep long, make it during the picking-season (of wine grapes) from fresh stum. Some say the stum must be boiled.

Item if you want to make mustard in a village (where there is no stum) in a hurry, grind white mustard[seeds] in a mortar, mix with vinagre, and strain through the sieve. When you want to use it immediately, put it in a pot near the fire.

Item if you want to make good [mustard] at leasure, soak the mustardseeds during one night in fine vinagre, then grind in the mill, and mix in the vinagre gradually. When you have spices left over from making jelly, claret, hypocras or sauces, grind these with [the mustardseeds] and let it mature.


In Literature:

Sources:

Weiss Adamson, Melitta. Food in Medieval Times. Westport, Connecuicut, London: Greenwood Press, 2004. p 13-14.

The Nibble: The History of Mustard from Prehistory to Modern Times - https://www.thenibble.com/reviews/main/condiments/history-of-mustard1.asp

Mustard: A Global History, by Demet Guzey, Reaktion Books, London, 2019

Baroness Hannah Schreiber, A Study of Medieval Mustard as Sauce & Seed: http://www.argentsun.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Mustard-Seed-AS-Sp-2012.pdf

Euriol of Lothian: Mustard Sauce: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NbKM3aMcy2RraVb56VaNrMPcnhODgGgD/view

Como Martino of Maestro Martino: Libro de arte coquinaria (sec. XV): Arte della cucina. Libri di ricette, testi sopra loscalco, i trinciante e i vini. Dal XIV al XIX secolo. A cura di Emilio Faccioli. Vol. 1. Milano 1966, 115-204. [Online] // Thomas Gloning / ed. Romanelli Valeria. - March 14, 2008. - http://www.uni-giessen.de/gloning/tx/martino2.htm

Drachenwald University: 13 Nov AS XXXIV: Medieval Mustard: https://www.greydragon.org/library/mustard.html

Libro de Guisados, por Ruperto de Nola: https://archive.org/details/AMont13513/page/n3/mode/2up

Coquinaria: Medieval Mustard: Published 27 December 2002, Modified December 2019: https://coquinaria.nl/en/medieval-mustard/

https://www.tewkesburymustard.co.uk/history-of-tewkesbury-mustard/