Mustard - Part 2
I must admit I was concerned, I got home and reached straight for the mustard. I took my mustard jar out of the fridge (should mustard be kept in a fridge?) and I studied the yellow Colman's jar.
The best before date was October '07. 'Aha!' I thought, not too far off my 'End of 'O7' blog post guess..!
But as I studied the packaging I was still concerned. I'd blogged about mustard losing it's spice without warning to it's purchasers, but perhaps it did have a 'Best consumed within x weeks of opening' statement? This would have rendered my last post meaningless... I might have had to delete the post... But, no! Simply a, 'Store in a dry cool place,' statement. (Should mustard be kept in a fridge?)
Hmm, 'interesting phrasing' I thought, 'Store in a dry cool place' and not the more usual, 'Store in a cool dry place...' But actually I'm not going to blog about that. No.
I saw a far more interesting line on the jar... 'If you have any questions or comments please phone FREE on 0800 281026 (UK only) Mon-Fri 9am-5pm.
Of course I had a question AND a comment! (Was that allowed, or would this have to be two phone calls?)
I decided I wanted to ask the experts at Colmans, 'Why did mustard lose it's hotness after it's opened?' And my comment was going to be a bit cross (sorry) it was, 'Why don't you tell us the mustard flavour spoils after a few weeks!?'
I must admit I was quite intrigued by the existence of this special phone line for Mustard questions. And I thought I'd try to get my money's worth from the service. (Which is free.)
Here's a few questions I thought I could ask. If you can think of more please let me know.
-- What do people normally ask a Mustard Hotline?
-- How do you get a job as a Colman's Mustard Hotline operator? Are you busy or do you have long (mustard sandwich) lunch breaks?
-- Do you prefer the flavour of hot newly opened mustard, or mild few-weeks old (spoiled) mustard?
-- Should mustard be kept in a fridge?
-- Was it important to use a 'dry cool' place, or would a 'cool dry' one do just as well?
I'll let you know what the Colman's mustard people say.
The best before date was October '07. 'Aha!' I thought, not too far off my 'End of 'O7' blog post guess..!
But as I studied the packaging I was still concerned. I'd blogged about mustard losing it's spice without warning to it's purchasers, but perhaps it did have a 'Best consumed within x weeks of opening' statement? This would have rendered my last post meaningless... I might have had to delete the post... But, no! Simply a, 'Store in a dry cool place,' statement. (Should mustard be kept in a fridge?)
Hmm, 'interesting phrasing' I thought, 'Store in a dry cool place' and not the more usual, 'Store in a cool dry place...' But actually I'm not going to blog about that. No.
I saw a far more interesting line on the jar... 'If you have any questions or comments please phone FREE on 0800 281026 (UK only) Mon-Fri 9am-5pm.
Of course I had a question AND a comment! (Was that allowed, or would this have to be two phone calls?)
I decided I wanted to ask the experts at Colmans, 'Why did mustard lose it's hotness after it's opened?' And my comment was going to be a bit cross (sorry) it was, 'Why don't you tell us the mustard flavour spoils after a few weeks!?'
I must admit I was quite intrigued by the existence of this special phone line for Mustard questions. And I thought I'd try to get my money's worth from the service. (Which is free.)
Here's a few questions I thought I could ask. If you can think of more please let me know.
-- What do people normally ask a Mustard Hotline?
-- How do you get a job as a Colman's Mustard Hotline operator? Are you busy or do you have long (mustard sandwich) lunch breaks?
-- Do you prefer the flavour of hot newly opened mustard, or mild few-weeks old (spoiled) mustard?
-- Should mustard be kept in a fridge?
-- Was it important to use a 'dry cool' place, or would a 'cool dry' one do just as well?
I'll let you know what the Colman's mustard people say.
posted by Jo at 7:04 PM
3 Comments:
What makes your Mustard "English" ?
What colour exactly is your mustard, piss yellow or puke green ?
Is your mustard irradiated ? or just inorganic ?
What is the leathal dose of Colemans English Mustard ?
would you say colemans english mustard is to mustard what salad-cream is to french dressings ?
Besides the eyes, what other parts of the body would you caution against a liberal spreading of colemans english mustard ?
Does your mustard cure thrush ?
I suspect that they just liked the intrinsic humour in the phrase "Mustard Hot Line".
Mustard loses its heat for the same reason that bread goes hard and spices go stale, meat goes off and lettuces go soft and mouldy; all are reacting with air. If you keep the jar airtight, it will not lose any heat.
If you make up mustard from mustard powder, the heat in the powder (compunds called myrosin and sinigrin) take about 10 minutes to fully reconstitute themselves when mixed with water. At this point the mustard is at its hottest. If you try it, you will find it rather hotter than Colman's from a jar.
It then loses its pungency rather quickly as it reacts with the air.
Think of the "heat" in the mustard, once it has been released from its natural home (mustard seeds) as highly pressured air in a bicicle tire. If you put a hole in the tire, the pressure inside the tire slowly equalizes with the air outside the tire.
The actual heat itself comes from chemicals in the mustard seed that are released when crushed. The technical term (but I had to look this up) is isothiocyanates. They differ from chilli and pepper heat in that they also hit the nasal passages as well as the taste buds. Hence the mustard bath to clear a bunged up nose.
Acidic acid is added to prepared mustard to slow down its deterioration when exposed to air.
If you mix powdered mustard with milk rather than with water, you get a less attractive colour, but the lactic acid serves to maintain the mustard's strength (that tip comes from Clement Freud, by the way) for a longer time.
In response to your questioner, the mustard is "English" because it is made mainly from the darker seeds, which have a greater impact on the nasal passages and also on the tongue. It is also mixed with a lower quantity of acidic agents, which tend to inhibit the heat impact.
PJ
Hi Pete, you know a lot about mustard! You should work for the Hot Line. I noticed the thing about noses when I had a sandwich the other day. Made my eyes water... I'll screw the lid on very tight from now on. Thanks!
Not sure whether to ring the Hot Line now as you covered most of the points. Although I am curious as to whether there is a 'lethal dose'. Hmmm, interesting one anon.
Post a Comment
<< Home