Posts Tagged ‘wild mustard’
trial and error with mustard seed
On Saturday we took a side trip to see if the mustard is ripe for collecting seeds. We had selected a roadside area in early summer where lots of wild mustard was growing (for more information, see my earlier post about wild mustard –https://nichepoetryandprose.wordpress.com/2012/07/09/a-moment-of-beautiful-mustard-fields-in-bloom/
Although there are still some plants in bloom, the seeds have mostly been set in their long-beaked pods.
I would have been able to show you more, but I nibbled on the green pods the whole way home. They are delicious, crisp and tangy, with a hint of mustard.
There were a few dry seed pods but most need a couple of additional weeks to ripen. Each pod has three to seven well-formed seeds. The seeds take a little work to extract.
Mustard pods and seeds; green pods, dry brown pods, seed husks and three tiny seeds
I retrieved about 20 ripe mustard seeds from the pods, using a firm tap of the pestle to break the husk. Then I ground the seeds in a half teaspoon of olive oil. To make mustard, all my sources suggest using cold water, but I wanted to see if the seeds would flavour oil.
The ingredients almost vanished during the grinding with the pestle, but I got enough ‘mustard’ for a taste.
The verdict: a very mild mustard oil, easily overwhelmed by the salt on the crackers! When the pods ripen, I will pick enough for a few hundred seeds and I will use cold water to extract the flavour, just as the wise ones suggest!!!
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© Jane Tims 2012
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Warning:
1. never eat any plant if you are not absolutely certain of the identification;
2. never eat any plant if you have personal sensitivities, including allergies, to certain plants or their derivatives;
3. never eat any plant unless you have checked several sources to verify the edibility of the plant.
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