January 8, 2014

COOKING: Cranberry Rosemary Mustard


Not to toot my own horn (which is the polite thing to say before doing so), but I happen to be quite a condiment connoisseur. I know - brag, brag, brag. I've just always been much more interested in what is ON my food rather than the food itself. I have literally placed a food order by requesting "a lot of sweet and sour sauce - like, more than you think a human could eat" on the side, which, incidentally, resulted in TWO measly containers of my beloved nectar, but that is not the point. The point is that I love a good accent flavor, even elderly-style flavors like piccalilli and other pepper relishes. I have an opinion on pepper relishes! See? Told you I was a condiment connoisseur!

Despite my passion, I've made very few DIY condiments, so I wanted to do so before I rightfully claim my place on top of the sauce throne. There is a sauce throne, right? Don't tell me I've been training for nothing!


WHAT YOU NEED
4 TBS Mustard Seeds
3 TBS Dried Cranberries
1 TBS Fresh Rosemary
Large Splash of Apple Cider Vinegar

HOW TO MAKE IT
Combine all of the dry ingredients in a bowl.

Add just enough apple cider vinegar to cover the dry ingredients by about a 1/4 inch.

Cover the bowl and put that bad boy in the refrigerator for a few days. 
Use the downtime to go on with your non-mustard-related business.

On day 2, a lot of the liquid had been absorbed by the mustard seeds.

I would say 3-5 days of soaking is good. This is what it looked like on day 5:

After you've soaked 'til you can't soak no more, dump the whole thing in a food processor and blend for several minutes, stopping occasionally to scrape the sides of the bowl or just take a break from panicking that your neighbors are angry with you for making such a loud noise.

The noise of my food processor scared the hell out of this adorable squirrel who was on a branch near my window. He was frozen in fear until he started chewing on the tree instead. He later found a small stick and ran away gleefully with it in his mouth. I took this as a 'halfway there, champ'-style pep talk.

When it seems done blending (meaning there are few or no whole mustard seeds left), you're done!

I popped mine in a mason jar and it filled it about halfway. My ingredients are based on the small jar of mustard seeds available in most grocery stores, but you could scale up {4 Parts Mustard Seed, 3 Parts Cranberries, 1 Part Rosemary} to meet your needs.



This mustard has a bit of a kick to it, which I enjoy (again, connoisseur) but might be a lot for some people. It tastes great on sandwiches and pretzels, of both the snack size and soft variety.

Would you ever make your own condiments? Are you more of a plain yellow mustard type? Will you share your best ketchup, BBQ or hot sauce recipes with me?


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13 comments:

  1. All my business is mustard related. Jk. Only you would add a squirrel pep talk in the middle of a recipe! I'm into the Japanese sauces and the Chikfila sauces.

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    1. Haha! Mustard-related business is the best business. xo

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  2. Oh good lord, that sounds good!!!! Guess what I'm going to have to make this weekend for myself? I love mustard, so thanks for posting this. :)

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    1. Michelle, I just got around to finishing up my mustard tonight. I made two batches of it: your rosemary cranberry mustard, and some dill mustard (because dill is one of my favorite things to cook with). I actually made so much that I'll be sharing some with friends tomorrow.

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    2. Yay! Lucky mustard-receiving friends. Dill mustard sounds like a great idea! xo

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  3. Considering that I (a) ate pretzels dipped in plain dijon mustard today and (b) ate like an entire cup of plain raw cranberries too, I probably need to try this recipe. I make a lot of homemade salad dressings with random stuff I happen to have around, but it's usually pigeons on the windowsill I'm scaring off with the food processor, not squirrels. :)

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    Replies
    1. You probably should! Homemade salad dressings from random stuff can be the BEST! xo

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  4. Ahh this looks so delicious! I feel like I should keep a jar of this in the office in case I get the munchies! Great recipe!

    xo Deborah
    Coffee, Prose, and Pretty Clothes

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  5. Okay seriously great recipe.. And lovely photographs!

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  6. This looks SO good!! Thank you for sharing! <3

    Diana
    www.ManhattanImageandStyle.com
    New Blog Post: 15 Things Every Woman Must Have

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