Mustard

Let's talk about mustard, and why it bites you the way it does.

Mustard seeds sit quiet and dry in the jar, almost nothing to them. Crush them, wet them, let them sit a minute, and the heat wakes up on its own — that's the whole trick, and every cook who has made mustard from seed knows it. A jar that's been open a while still carries a tangy edge; trust your nose more than the calendar to tell you whether the heat is still there or has faded.

Choose it by smell first. Open the jar and breathe in — it should sting a little, in a clean way, not sit flat or sour. A little liquid on top of a coarse mustard is nothing to worry about; stir it in and judge the jar by smell and texture, not by that liquid alone.

Some people say the darker the mustard, the stronger it is. No! Brown and black seeds do tend to bring more heat than pale yellow ones, but a pale Dijon can bite just as hard, sometimes harder.

That misconception leads to a real mistake: people buy by colour expecting fire, and end up with a mild paste or waste a sharp one, using too little or too much, when a quick smell at the counter would have told them exactly what they were getting.