MUSTARD SEED YELLOW

Description

Profile: Yellow mustard seeds are bitter and musky, with overtones of white wine and tarragon. When you're not looking it's reading Charlotte Bronte.

Details:

Used in pickling, rubs, spice mixes and homemade mustard.

Yellow, brown, and black mustard seeds are available. These are utilized in Europe and Western Asia, while brown and black are used in India and the regions around it.

They all have distinct flavors. Yellow seeds have less pungency and an initial flowery sweetness. Brown seeds have an earthy horseradish flavor (though sometimes possess enough heat to burn down a barn). The impact of biting into a black seed is enough to bring about a nuclear winter.

To bring out the flavors of mustard seeds, they must be ground. Mustard's bitter odor and piercing heat are due to the enzyme myrosinase. But it's an iffy enzyme. The enzyme's flavor blooms with water and temperature. Cold water ensures a fiery, bitter, acrid, and pungent mustard paste (possibly to the point of it being inedible if the water is ice cold). Warm water will soften it, whereas hot water will neutralize it.