Make your own condiments!

There are many ways to put your food storage together. Some families purchase prepared meals and store them. Others purchase mostly freeze dried and dehydrated foods and use this as their primary food storage. While I do have some of each of these things, my family leans toward storing the basics in as natural a state as possible. We use our food storage daily.

That means that we have whole foods that can be bland without spices.

I’ve written before about my husband and his sauce fetish. He’s game to eat most all kinds of food (no fruit, please!) but it has to have some kind of sauce in it, on it, or readily available for dipping. He especially likes spices and strong flavors, which is something not natural in whole foods. The addition of spices and sauces brings my food storage to the next level of yummy as far as my family is concerned.

I purchased mustard seed several years ago as part of a big purchase of spices. They’ve been in that Mason jar for a while now, so I thought I would try my hand at making mustard from seed.

I found an inspiring homemade grainy mustard seed recipe  from Attainable Sustainable and gave it a try. It couldn’t be easier!

Homemade mustard from seeds

You will need the following supplies to make 1 cup of mustard

½ cup Mustard seed
3 oz Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV)
1 oz water
1 glass jar or bowl

Add the mustard to the jar, pour in the ACV and water, stir and let the seeds soak up the liquid. If they seem to get too dry, add more water or ACV to cover them. I ended up adding an additional ¼ of a cup of ACV/water mixed. I think it was because my seed was older. You can always drain off any additional that isn’t used.

Once the seeds have expanded – mine doubled in size in 3 days – drain off and reserve any liquid that wasn’t used by the seed. Put the soaked seeds into a food processor and grind until your mustard is the consistency you want. Add back the reserved liquid if needed.

This mustard was made with yellow seed and is moderately spicy. You may want to use brown or black mustard seed for even more flavor.

Skip the soak and use mustard powder instead

For a quick homemade mustard without the soak, add 1/4 mustard powder and spices to a glass bowl. Slowly add ACV and water, stirring to get it to the consistency of ketchup. Heat the mixture in the microwave for 1 minute to meld the flavors together. Use immediately or refrigerate for a few hours for more depth in the flavor.

Use your homemade mustard

If you are ever dependent on your food storage to survive you will be glad to have spices and mustard seed, and the knowledge to use it. The first thing I did with my homemade mustard – whip up an egg salad sandwich!

You could make a batch for individual family member tastes – how about adding any of these to your prepared mustard:

• Honey or brown sugar for sweetness
• Spice it up with dill seed, chili powder, or hickory salt
• Add turmeric to get the traditional yellow mustard look and taste
• Horseradish or garlic
• Sun-dried tomatoes
• Grated lemon, lime or orange peel
• Fresh thyme, rosemary, sage, basil or mint

I think I might take a walk down the condiment isle for other ideas!

Homemade mustard will continue to age and deepen in flavor in the refrigerator. Keep it up to 6 months, however making it in small batches pretty much ensures you won’t have it around for long.

You can purchase mustard seed at most grocery stores in the bulk bins or online at these fine businesses – Spices for Less – Mountain Rose Herbs – San Francisco Herb Company.