Homemade Mustard - process or not ?

[chowmel]

I'll be attempting homemade mustard for holiday gifts. Plenty of recipes, seems easy enough. Most of what I read says store mustard in the fridge, while quite a few say it is shelf stable. Then a few that water bath process the finished mustard. Any experience or suggestions to help out ? Thanks

[rainey]

Well, I only make enough for myself and I keep that in the fridge.

I can fruit preserves myself as well but you have to appreciate the significant hygiene issues. If you aren't ABSOLUTELY sure of the acid content and, therefore, the stability of mustard I wouldn't offer it as anything but a fresh food to be refrigerated. Once refrigerated there's no particular rush to use it up. My recipe makes a couple cups of mustard and, while it takes me months to use it up, there's no indication it's tired in any way at the end.

Care to share any of the recipes you found?

I use this YumSugar recipe. http://www.yumsugar.com/3414781 I make it with about 1/3 yellow mustard seeds, 2/3 brown mustard seeds and a mellow pomegranate vinegar and honey. After it's mellowed for several weeks I add in some puréed fruit preserves to round out the flavor and take some of the edge off the heat.

[janniecooks]

If you're planning on giving the mustards as gifts, it is essential that you process the jars in a water bath. Without processing the mustards must remain refrigerated and be used within a few weeks. As you have no control over how the mustards are stored once you've given them away, for the safety of the recipients the mustards should be processed. For four-ounce jars process for 10 minutes in a water-bath canner.

[rainey]

Not contesting. Just inquiring. But how do you know or certain that a water bath is adequate to ensure the hygiene of mustard? Do you know the acidity? And how are you sure the acidity doesn't change critically with various recipes? I know the pH of vinegars can be very different.

Again, not disputing. Hoping to learn. And be confident about the safety of a wider variety of home canned foods.

As to using refrigerated mustard over the course of weeks, I think that's unnecessarily conservative. I've taken months to use my mustard with no degradation in the fridge. I make a few cups at a time and it takes a good while to use that up. I think the product is stable and the combination of acidity and low temps makes the hygiene reliable.

[janniecooks]

Rainey, you're right . I don't know that a water bath is adequate - I assumed that the mustard would be made with vinegar, which may (or may not) assure appropriate acidity.

I guess rephrased my advice really would be, if giving home-made goods like mustards (or jams, jellies, chutneys, and other similar condiments) they should be processed in a method appropriate for the acid level of the contents. For the safety of the recipients. Perhaps this is too conservative for you, but it seems unwise to take risks that could affect other people's health.

[rainey]

Truth of the matter is that once-upon-a-time I fresh packed tomatoes. (I'm 62 and I've been at this a while.) Now I read about the iffy acidity of tomatoes and I'd never do it, or add things like onions/celery/peppers that further reduce the acidity again. As precise information about the acidity/salinity/sucrosity of what constitutes "safe" came along I got less and less willing to tempt fate. ...even tho I'd never had an adverse incident.

I share your inclination to use a water bath for insurance. But I would never *trust* it by itself. I'd only water bath something the absolute acidity, salinity or sucrosity and, therefore, stability of something I was already confident about.

So, in the case of mustard which has neither a lot of acid or sugar, (and this is just me; you do as you see fit) I would offer it cold and advise that it had to go directly in the fridge and be stored there. I would not, however, have any anxiety at all about a couple hours of transit time so long as the jar still felt cold to my hand. I don't think we're talking about a festering pot of bacterial napalm in the least. Far from it. But when something is water bathed and offered to someone who doesn't know the process, I think there's a significant possibility that they could put it aside on a shelf for a significant time before opening it. *That* concerns me.

BUT, I am not a chemist or a biologist and I'm highly aware that it's my own distinct limitations that inhibits *me*. I share the concern so that people can do their own research, seek their own experts and follow their own assurances.

I think we're on the same page here, jannie. I just think I'm probably *more* conservative. And I participate in the conversation to learn more. ...and to be well-understood. ;>

[janniecooks]

Rainey, you raise a number of excellent points in your post. Thank you for expanding on your post, and clarifying your position. You have much wisdom to offer this board!

[hotoynoodle]

i make mustard from chinese dried mustard all the time. i keep it in the fridge just because i have almost no pantry space. it lasts forever. same with wasabi from powder.

in most restaurants in which i have worked, we store open jars of mustard at room temp. since health inspectors routinely come through, i'm thinking that mustard is shelf stable.

i would not consider making or giving jam that was not processed, however. apples and oranges here as far as acid/sugar content.

[morwen]

I put a number of items in my gift baskets that are meant to be used right away and require refrigeration. Those things are labeled as perishable with "use by" dates printed on them. To keep them cold while gift giving they are bundled together in a group and are sitting on small gel ice packs. I pick these up at the dollar stores when they appear in spring/summer. They are inexpensive, do a great job (keep things cold for about 8 hours), and reusable by the recipients. Of course these baskets are given in person. If you're shipping your gifts this method wouldn't work for you.

[jeanmarieok]

I make a homemade honey mustard, and a homemade hot fudge sauce every year to give as gifts, and I mark on them 'please refrigerate' - and when I deliver the gift, I say the same - 'You will want to refrigerate immediately'. Having said that, I still have a jar of honey mustard from last Christmas that my husband used yesterday. I didn't even consider that it might spoil. Maybe I should?

[LauraGrace]

I can't imagine that it would spoil. Salt and vinegar don't make for a very bacteria-friendly environment! Honey also has naturally antiseptic properties. Add refrigeration to that and it strikes me that mustard has to be long-term-storable. I still have a jar of German mustard in my fridge from... gosh... two or three years ago, probably.

[rainey]

Just re-reard your original question.

I don't see how a water bath can "finish" mustard, but it's very true that good mustard is not "finished" until it's had a nice mellowing rest. I may use my mustard after a couple weeks but it's really after a month that it gets a nice round, more flavorful, less aggressive profile.

[morwen]

If you haven't made that mustard yet, I found a recipe on the Ball canning site with instructions for waterbathing.

http://www.freshpreserving.com/pages/...