This was in today’s Toronto Star (supposed to be a free link)
“Why is my mustard spicier than normal? An investigation into a global Dijon mystery”
https://www.thestar.com/gift-redeem?t=03561d96-c4cc-4885-a62e-11f751661051
Has any one here experienced this? If climate change is indeed the cause this will become the new normal. Not sure how one would adapt recipes , I would imagine simply using less mustard would upset the balance of the dish.
Use Maille often, didn’t notice any change.
Never seen Maille at Costco.
If it proves to be an issues, it doesn’t seem to be one now as this is the first I am hearing of it, then the easiest answer is to make your own mustard. Once you control the ingredients and the time, you can adapt as you desire. No need to use only brown seeds, you can blend yellow and brown together. Likewise you can adjust the soak time to reduce the intensity. It may take a few batches to dial in preferences but it is a quick and easy process.
Based on the web sites, looks like Costco has Maille in Canada , not in US.
Apparently the hot version is also at Longo’s (a mid size slightly upscale supermarket )
As I recall, Canadian Maille was made weaker for the market.
Hot mustard has nothing to do with climate. Mustard always becomes spicy when you mix it with water. The longer you leave it in the water, the spicier it is. This is how they made WWII mustard gas, or how you make Chinese hot mustard. Typically most Dijon or table mustards add the vinegar immediately which stops the reaction. Perhaps they had a ratio issue or some sort of mechanical issue which caused the vinegar to be delayed in that batch.
So the article is wrong?
It’s all conjecture anyway. Of course any naturally grown product is going to have variation, but 10x stronger just from a hotter growing season? Seems unlikely.
The thing that puzzles me is how did it get past QA?
Fact check?
No, the longer it soaks, the more it mellows. There might be a short window where it gets hotter before peaking and decreasing but that would be measured in minutes not hours or days. For those making mustard at home and wanting a more mellow version, the most common way is to let it soak for a couple of day or longer.
Soak time and global warming are not correlated much less causative.
Yes, this is the interesting part. Pure speculation but possible that a large part of the issue is personal tolerance for heat. Some people have a lower threshold and smaller changes seem bigger than they do to others. Put it into scoville heat units for hot pepper. Use a jalapeño as base, 10x up from that is a cayenne, another 10x up from there is a red savina habanero. Obviously the second jump is a lot bigger than the first jump but for those who can’t handle heat, the first jump is huge.
Using the pepper example, I have problems accepting the article’s estimation of 10x hotter. I just don’t assume that most people are that well calibrated to understand differences in heat when tasting. If I then assume something more along the lines of 2x and account for individual sensitivity, I can at least understand how it could be possible to pass QA and still get called out as too hot by some people while others would hardly notice. Putting it back into hot pepper terms, a Serrano instead of a jalapeno. Many of us wouldn’t notice while others would find it impossible to eat.
Minutes is what I’m talking about. If you let it sit for 10 minutes it will be Chinese hot mustard. That’s a reasonable amount of time to have a machine malfunction in a batch. Obviously they didn’t let it sit for days…
Stick to Edmond Fallot instead.
As I understand it, Chinese mustard is made from mustard powder and that is why the soak time is short. Mustard made from seeds generally has a longer soak to soften the seeds and develop flavor before grinding. Maille doesn’t address soak time but does state that they start from seeds. It is possible that the commercial equipment allows them to process the seeds with only a few minutes of soak time but I can find nothing to either support or refute that.
The seeds are then taken to our Chevigny factory in the greater Dijon region within 15 miles of the fields. A machine soaks them in water, cuts the seeds and separates them from the husk, leaving no more than 25% of the husk in the mix, as per an original Dijon recipe.
We letting the mustard gas go then?
I can’t remember exactly what I heard about mustard gas, but I may have misremembered or it was bad info.
I was talking about mustard powder. But since they make it from seeds, the spicy batch may have nothing to do with the soak.