Ingredients · Spice
Brown Mustard Seeds
Brassica juncea · Brassicaceae (cabbage family)
What it’s like, and how to use it
How to use it
Popped whole in hot oil for an Indian tempering — wait for the crackle, then move fast. In pickling brine. Ground for a hotter prepared mustard than yellow seed gives. In Bengali cooking, ground to a paste with water.
With food
Potato and cauliflower. Lentils. Fish, in the Bengali manner. Cabbage. Vinegar. Honey. Pork.
With spices
Cumin, fenugreek and curry leaf, in a tempering. Turmeric. Chile. Dill and celery seed, for pickling.
With tea
Not a tea ingredient.
Its story
Where it comes from
Canada was the world's top exporter of mustard seed in 2021, and Saskatchewan grows almost 90 per cent of the Canadian crop — brown and oriental among the three types grown. Our lot names no origin, but Canadian seed is likely.
What happened
Mustard's heat is a chemical reaction rather than a flavour sitting in the seed. Water brings the enzyme myrosinase into contact with the seed's glucosinolates, and the pungency builds over about ten minutes; cold water makes it hotter, hot water milder, and acid stops the reaction where it stands. The Romans ground the seed into unfermented grape juice and called it mustum ardens — burning must — which is where the word mustard comes from. For a Calgary shop the brown seed is close to home: the Prairies have grown mustard since Alberta's first crop in 1936.
On the shelf with it
Sold on its own, and in these blends.
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Mustard Seeds, Brown
Regular price From $5.99 CADRegular price
