Medieval Mustard

This was a project that I did for the 2005 Ice Dragon Pentathlon. If I remember correctly, I used this documentation for the mustard as a condiment (culinary arts - other), the mustard as an anti-inflammatory (household arts) and as an ingredient in a dish (culinary arts - main courses).

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Medieval Mustard

It is often that the smallest of details are over looked as we turn our eyes towards the big things. One of the smallest of items in medieval culinary circles is both a spice and a condiment: mustard. Both the seed and the condiment have been used for thousands of years. Mustard is listed as one of Isidore of Seville’s 133 herbs [1] in the 6th Century AD and has been grown since prehistory. Mustard seeds are mentioned in Ancient China and still are cultivated; in Ancient Egypt where seeds have been founds in tombs; [2] in Ancient Greece (Athenaeus mentions sauces prepared with crushed mustard seeds); [3] and in Ancient Rome (Apicius mentions mustard seeds in sauces [4] and Columelos, the agronomist, mentions them in his first recipe). [5] Charlemagne was the first to order the cultivation of mustard seeds in France, in 795 A.D., [6] and Pope John XXIII created the office of "1st Mustardmaker to the Pope". [7]

Mustard must have been very popular, for almost the entire plant is edible: the seeds contain protein and a lot of flavor and the leaves and stem can be used as a salad and are also quite flavorful. Even the flowers and roots can be used as an herbal. The roots can made into a poultice that is helpful for "... coughs, wheezing, and shortness of breath. The same is also profitable for those that have the jaundice, pleurisy, pains in the back and loins, and for torments in the belly, or cholic, being also used in clysters." [8]

The purpose of this project is to create the condiment mustard, as making the actual seeds is quite beyond my abilities. The condiment, which I will hereby refer to as simply mustard, has been used in period as it is used today; for everything. It was used as a dipping sauce, as a mariade, as a glaze, as an ingredient in salad dressing, as a stabilizer for sauces and as a seasoning. Athenaeus, a 5th Century BCE writer, recorded perhaps the earliest recipe for mustard:

But they also ate as an appetizer turnips done in vinegar and mustard, as Nicander plainly shows in the second book of the Georgics; for he says: "Of turnip and cabbage, in truth, two families appear in our gardens, long and solid. The latter you wash and dry in the north wind, and they are welcome in winter even to the idle stay-at-homes; for soaked in warm water they come to life again. But the other, the turnip roots, you cut in thin slices, gently cleaning away the undried outer skin, and after drying them in the sun a little, either dip a quantity of them in boiling water and soak them in strong brine; or again, put equal parts of white must and vinegar in a jar together, then plunge the slices in it, having dried them off with salt. Often, too, you may pound raisins and biting mustard-seeds with a pestle and add it to them. When cream of tartar forms, and the top grows more and more bitter, then 'tis time to draw off the pickle for those who seek their dinner." [9]

In the 14th Century, in the book The Goodman of Paris, [10] the method of making mustard changed very little:

MUSTARD. If you wish to provide for keeping mustard a long time do it at wine-harvest in sweet must. And some say that the must should be boiled. Item, if you want to make mustard hastily in a village, grind some mustard-seed in a mortar and soak in vinegar, and strain; and if you want to make it ready the sooner, put it in a pot in front of the fire. Item, and if you wish to make it properly and at leisure, put the mustard-seed to soak overnight in good vinegar, then have it ground fine in a mill, and then little by little moisten it with vinegar: and if you have some spices left over from making jelly, broth, hypocras or sauces, they may be ground up with it, and then leave it until it is ready.

The English also enjoyed mustard. The Liber cure Cocorum, a 15th century cookbook written in Norman English gives the following recipe in verse:

For lumbardus mustard. [11]Take mustarde and let hit dryeAnonyn, Sir, wyturlye;Stomper hit in a morter fyne,And fars hit þurghe a clothe of lyne;Do wyne þerto and venegur gode,Sture hom wele togeder for þe rode,And make hit þyke inowghe þenne,Whenne þou hit spendes byfore gode menne,And make hit thynne with wyne, I say,With diverse metes þou serve hit may.

For lombardy mustard. [12]Take mustard and let it dryAnon, Sir, certainly;Pound it in a mortar fine,And force it through a cloth of linen;Add wine thereto and good vinegar,Stir them well together for the Rood,And make it thick enough then,When you serve it before good men,And make it thin with wine, I say,With diverse meats you may serve it.

And even today, mustard is made almost the same way:

Dijon-style Mustard [13]2 tablespoons yellow mustard seed1/2 tablespoon dry mustard2 tablespoons water2 tablespoons white wine2 tablespoon white wine vinegar1/4 teaspoon salt1/8 teaspoon ground turmericGrind the mustard seed to a fine consistency. Mix the ground mustard with the dry mustard powder and water in a small bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and set aside overnight. Combine the mustards with the wine, vinegar, salt, and turmeric in a blender or mini-food processor. Puree until smooth. The mustard should be ready to use immediately, with a refrigerator shelf life of 3 months.

Mustard has been recorded as a condiment in Europe for over 2500 years. The implication is staggering, and makes mustard an ubiquitous part of the everyday life of countless millions of people throughout history. Mustard has been recorded in China, where it is called chuk gai choi, since the 3rd Century BCE. How popular was mustard? C. Anne Wilson, quoting a 15th Century household’s expenditures, wrote that that in one year, a single household purchased 84 pounds of mustard seed. To put it into perspective, the same household purchased in that same year, ¾ pounds of saffron, 5 pounds of peppercorn, 2 ½ pounds of ginger, 3 pounds of cinnamon and 1 ¼ pounds each of cloves and mace. [14]

Mustard was so popular because it cam be grown almost anywhere and can provide as much or more flavor as more expensive spices that had to be imported from across the world. Mustard’s popularity was known throughout Europe. Ein Buch von Guter Spise, a 14th Century German cookbook, lists the following recipe for mustard:

48. Ein condimentlin (A condiment). Mal mostrich und enis mit pfeffer und mit ezzige und mit honige. und mach ez gel mit saffran. und tu dar zu senf. in disem condimente maht du sulze persilien, bern und clein cumpost oder rüeben, waz du wilt. 

Flavor mustard seeds and anise with pepper and with vinegar and with honey. And make it gold with saffron. And add thereto mustard. In this condiment you may make sulze (pickled or marinated) parsley, and small preserved fruit and vegetables, or beets, which(ever) you want. [15]

The Forme of Cury, [16] compiled in 1390, also provides a recipe for Lumbard Mustard:

LUMBARD MUSTARD. XX.VII. V. Take Mustard seed and waishe it and drye it in an ovene, grynde it drye. farse it thurgh a farse. clarifie hony with wyne or vynegur or bere stere it wel togedrer and make it thikke ynowz. & whan þou wilt spende þerof make it tnynne with wyne.

Two more German recipes, this time from the 16th Century, can be found in Das Kuchbuch der Sabina Welserin: [17]

34 To make the mustard for dried cod. Take mustard powder, stir into it good wine and pear preserves and put sugar into it, as much as you feel is good, and make it as thick as you prefer to eat it, then it is a good mustard. 

194 A mustard. Pound almonds small and strain them with vinegar through a clean cloth bag, then it is called white mustard. If you would have it yellow, color it yellow [18], then it can be served with calves's or deer feet. [19]

In Spain around the same time, Maestre Ruperto de Nola, the cook to Ferrand, King of Naples, published his Libre del Coch (1520). The book was so popular that is was republished four more times in Catalan, and ten times in Spanish. [20] This cookbook lists three separate recipes for mustard.

153. Mustard You must take mustard seed, and clean it of the dust and the soil and the stones, and grind it well in a mortar; and when it is ground, strain it through a cloth strainer; and then take the mustard powder and put it in a mortar with a crustless piece of bread soaked in meat broth, and grind it all together; and when it is well-ground, blend it with a little bit of lean broth without fat which is well-salted; and when it is blended in a good manner so that it is not too thin, take honey which is good, and melted on the fire, and cast it in the mortar and stir it well until it is well-mixed, and prepare dishes. Some cast a little vinegar in the broth; you can add peeled, toasted almonds, ground-up with the mustard.

154. French Mustard You must take a cantaro [21] of the must of wine, either red or white, and grind a dishful of mustard that is select and very good; and after straining it through a sieve or a sifter, grind with it, if you wish: a little cinnamon, and cloves, and ginger, and cast it all, very well-mixed in the mortar, into the cantaro or jar of wine; and with a cane stir it around a long while, so that it mixes with the must; and each day you must stir it with the cane seven or eight times; and you will boil the wine with this mustard; and when the wine has finished boiling, you can eat this mustard. And when you want to take it out to cast it in the dish to eat, first stir it with the cane a little; and this is very good mustard and it will keep all year.

155. Another Very Good French Mustard Which Lasts All Year Take a caldron which will hold two cantaros, and fill it with red grapes and set it to cook upon the fire until it is reduced by half and there remains half a caldron which is one cantaro; and when the grapes are cooked, remove the scum with a wooden spoon; and stir it now and then with a stick; and strain this must through a clean cloth and cast it into a cantaro; and then cast in the mustard, which should be up to a dishful well-ground, little by little, stirring it with the stick. And each day you should stir with it, four or five times a day; and if you wish, you can grind with the mustard three parts cinnamon, two parts cloves, and one part ginger. This French mustard is very good and lasts all year and is mulberry-colored.

The Libro di cucina/ Libro per cuoco, a 14th or 15th Century Italian cookbook gives the following recipe: [22]

XLII - Mustard and mustard good. If you want to make mustard, take the fat that falls hot from a roast capon or other meat, take mustard seed and crush well, and when it is well ground put it to soak in water well boiled, and then take of vin cotto [23] and mix everything together and put it to boil a little etc. For another way of making mustard delicate, take the seeds cut and washed well with boiling water and temper with a knife and mix sugar and powdered cloves, etc.

The A Boke of Kokery, published in 1450, gives the following recipe: [24]

And oynons small mynced; then caste there-to wyn, and a litull vynegre or vergeous, pouder of peper, Canel, salt and saffron, and lete it stue on þe faire coles, And þen serue hit forthe; if he have no wyne ne vynegre, take Ale, Mustard, and A quantite of vergeous, and do þis in þe stede of vyne or vinegre. 

The Closet of the Eminently Learned Sir Kenelme Digby, Kt Opened. 1669, provides two recipes for making mustard. [25]

To make Mustard:The best way of making Mustard is this: Take of the best Mustard-seed (which is black) for example, a quart. Dry it gently in an Oven, and beat it to a subtle powder, and searse it. Then mingle well strong Wine-vinegar with it, so much that it be pretty liquid, for it will dry with keeping. Put to this a little Pepper beaten small (white is the best) at discretion, as about a good pugil, and put a good spoonful of Sugar to it (which is not to make it taste sweet, but rather quick, and to help the fermentation) lay a good Onion in the bottom, quartered if you will, and a race of Ginger scraped and bruised; and stir it often with an Horseradish root cleansed, which let always lie in the pot till it have lost its virtue, then take a new one. This will keep long, and grow better for a while. It is not good till after a month, that it hath fermented a while. Some think it will be the quicker, if the seed be ground with fair water, instead of Vinegar, putting store of Onions in it. 

My lady Holmeby makes her quick fine Mustard thus: Choose true Mustard-seed; dry it in an Oven after the bread is out. Beat and searse it to a most subtle powder. Mingle Sherry-sack with it (stirring it a long time very well, so much as to have it of a fit consistence for Mustard. Then put a good quantity of fine Sugar to it, as five or six spoonfuls, or more, to a pint of Mustard. Stir and incorporate all well together. This will keep good a long time. Some do like to put to it a little (but a little) of very sharp Wine-vinegar. 

The 14th Century cookbook, Le Viandier de Taillevent, gives the following: [26]

Mustard [Sauce]. Soak the mustard seed overnight in good ale, grind it in a mill, and then moisten it little by little with ale. If you have any spices left over from Hippocras or sauces, grind them with it. 

Taking all of this into account, I decided to make my own mustard using the following:

3 ounces White mustard seeds, whole
An equal volume of stout (home brewed, of course) [27]
2 teaspoons, Honey
½ ounce, Ginger root
1 pinch, Kosher salt
1 grind, Black pepper

I soaked the mustard seeds in the stout but I had miscalculated the volume and added more beer than seed. This mixture I let soak for three days. Then the seeds, which had absorbed most of the beer, and ginger were ground using a mortar and pestle and returned to the remainder of the beer. The mixture was left to soak for another night. To the mixture I added the honey, a pinch of salt and a single grind of black pepper. The salt was not added for flavor, but to enhance the flavors of the rest of the ingredients.

As the end product tasted of mustard floating in a puddle of beer, I heated the mustard in a small saucier over very low heat for a couple minutes to cook off some of the alcohol and to reduce the mustard to a firmer consistency.

Now that the mustard has been made, what can one do with it. Well, you can cook with it. The Liber cure Cocorum has several recipes that call for mustard:

66. Sawce for Mawdelardes rosted. [28]Take onyons and hew hom wele,Put sum in þo mawdelarde, so have þou cele,And hacke mo onyons, as I þe kenne;With þo grece of þo mawdelarde þou sethe hom, þenTake ale, mustarde and hony þo,Boyle alle togeder or þou more do;For maularde rosted þys sawce is dyet,And served in sale by gode ryet.

66. Sauce for roasted Mallards. [29]Take onions and hew them well,Put some in the mallard, so have you bliss,And hack more onions, as I teach you;With the grease of the mallard you fry them, thenTake ale, mustard and honey then,Boil all together before you do more;For mallard roasted this sauce is prepared,And served in hall by good right.

78 For Pykulle.Take droppyng of capone rostyd weleWith wyne and mustarde, as I have þou cele,With onyons smalle schrad and sothun in grece,Meng alle in fere and forthe hit messe.

78. For Pickle.Take drippings of capon roasted wellWith wine and mustard, as you have bliss,With onions small-shredded and fried in grease,Mingle all together and serve it forth.

The Forme of Cury. Also uses mustard in many of it’s recipes, such as this one for Compost. [30]

COMPOST. C. Take rote of parsel. pasternak of rasenns. scrape hem waisthe hem clene. take rapes & caboches ypared and icorne. take an erthen panne with clene water & set it on the fire. cast all þise þerinne. whan þey buth boiled cast þerto peeres & parboile hem wel. take þise thynges up & lat it kele on a fair cloth, do þerto salt whan it is colde in a vessel take vineger & powdour & safroun & do þerto. & lat alle þise thinges lye þerin al nyzt oþer al day, take wyne greke and hony clarified togider lumbarde mustard & raisouns corance al hool. & grynde powdour of canel powdour douce. & aneys hole. & fenell seed. take alle þise thynges & cast togyder in a pot of erthe. and take þerof whan þou wilt & serue forth.

From Das Kuchbuch der Sabina Welserin, comes a recipe for dried cod: [31]

33 To prepare dried cod, from the gracious Lord of Lindau, who was Bishop in Constance. First take river water and ashes and add caustic lime, which should be rather strong, and soak the dried cod therein. Allow it to soak for a day and a night, afterwards drain it off and pour on it again the previously described caustic lime solution. Let it soak again for a day and a night, put it afterwards in a pot and wash it off two or three times in water, so that the fish no longer tastes like lye. Put it then in a pot and put water therein and let it slowly simmer so that it does not boil over. Allow it to only simmer slowly, otherwise it becomes hard. Let it cook approximately one hour, after which, dress and salt it and pour salted butter over it and serve it. Also put good mustard on the outside in about three places. One must also beat dried cod well before it is soaked. 

The Libre del Coch also offers many recipes that include mustard. [32]

179. Emperor's Sauce. You will take hen's livers roasted in the coals, and take toasted almonds and grind them with the livers and with a crustless piece of bread, and temper everything with good hen's broth and when it is well-ground take eighteen or twenty raw egg yolks and grind them with the said almonds which should be about a handful, and three livers of capons or hens and grind it all together in a mortar, and strain it through a sieve just like peacock sauce, after straining it, set it to cook in a clean pot with little heat stirring it constantly with a spoon, and cast in plenty of sugar, and a little mustard sauce, and five or six ground cloves, and ginger according to your will. And it must be a little sour with the juice of oranges or of unripe grapes or of pomegranates. And it should taste a little of all the said spices, and more of ginger. And it must be thick, like peacock sauce, and it should have a dun color; and prepare dishes; and cast sugar and cinnamon on top of them. 

It was also used as a dipping sauce. Or a garnish. Le Menagier de Paris provides dozens of examples such as the following: [33]

Eel. Kill it in salt and leave it naturally for three whole days then it should be taken out of the pan, the mud removed, cut into chunks, cooked in water and with scallions. And if you want to salt it from evening to morning, skin it and gut it, then chop in chunks, and salt and rub well each piece with strong salt; and if you want to advance it further, grind salt and rub each chunk and smother in salt between two bowls. Cook as above and eat with mustard. 

Fresh wild boar is cooked in water with wine and eaten with hot pepper, and is salted as above and eaten with mustard; this is in the depth of winter, but at the beginning of winter, it is eaten with spices and garnishes. 

In Gascony, when it begins to get cold, they buy the tongues, parboil and skin them, and then salt them one on top of another in a salting tub and leave then eight days, then hang them in the chimney all winter and in summer, as above, dry; and they will keep thus for ten years. And then they are cooked in water and wine if you wish, and eaten with mustard. 

Salted Shad is cooked in water and eaten with mustard, or in wine and eaten with scallions. Fresh it is in season in March. It is appropriate to hold it by the ears, scald, cook in water, and eat with cameline; and if it is to go in a pie, you should first scald it, then put in the pie with very clear cameline sauce in the pie when it is almost cooked, and make this sauce boil. Item, shad is prepared as above, without scalding, then roast in the oven with parsley and half verjuice, half wine and vinegar; and it is in season from February to June. 

Sardines, gutted, cooked in water, and served with mustard sauce. 

Not only is mustard very tasty, but it has many medicinal properties as well. In 1889, Dr. Joseph England published a monograph on the uses of mustard:

Possessing the aromatic qualities of ginger and the sharply stimulating properties of capsicum, it combined in one the excellencies of both, without the local irritant feature so characteristic of capsicum. It was found to be stronger than tincture of ginger and less active than tincture of capsicum; standing, apparently, midway in medicinal activity between the two. Mustard, as is well known, depends for its medicinal activity upon a fixed, acrid oil - acrinyl sulphocyanide, and sulphate of sinapine, in the case of the white seed, and a volatile liquid - allyl sulphocyanide in the case of the black seed. None of these principles preexist in the seeds as such, but are the results of decomposition by a ferment - myrosin - in the presence of water, of certain proximate principles, sinalbin in the one instance and sinigrin in the other, very much in the same way that amygdalin and emulsin in bitter almonds are broken up when brought in contact with water, to form hydrocyanic acid.

Mustard was used as an irritant, a stimulant and as an external application to promote circulation. Mustard was applied on a piece of cloth and held against the skin to treat colds, rheumatism and sore mussels. [34] Platina says, "It is considered very useful to the stomach, drives out ills in the lungs, lightens a chronic cough, makes spitting easy, is given food to those who are gasping, purges senses and head from sneezes, softens the bowels, stimulates menstruation and urine, and cuts phlegm. When smeared on an ailment of the body, it shows the force of its burning." [35]

In 50 A.D. Dioscorides said that it is good for inflammations of the womb (uterus) and for stimulating mother's milk [36] Culpeper suggests it to remove foreign bodies in the flesh. [37]

"...for the Falling sickness or Lethargy, drousie forgetful evil, to use it both inwardly and outwardly to rub the Nostrils, Forehead, and Temples, to warm and quicken the Spirits, for by the fierce sharpness it purgeth the Brain by sneezing, and drawing down Rhewm and other Viscuous Humors, which by their Distillations upon the Lungs and Chest procure coughing, and therefore with some Honey added thereto doth much good therein"  Decoction of mustard in wine he prescribes for poisoning and venom, as well as agues. "The Seed taken either by it self or with other things either in an Electuary or Drink, doth mightily stir up Bodily lust, and helpeth the Spleen and pains in the sides, and gnawing in the Bowels." As a gargle for sore throat and a poultice for toothache, sciatica, gout and other joint aches. "It is also used to help the falling of the Hair: The Seed bruised, mixed with Honey and applied, or made up with Wax, taketh away the Marks, and black and blue spots of Bruises or the like, the roughness or Scabbedness of the Skin, as also the Leprosie and lowsie evil.." He says, "It is an excellent Sawce for such whose Blood wants clarifying and for weak Stomachs being an Herb of Mars, but naught for Chollerick people, though as good for such as are aged or troubled with cold Diseases, Aries claims something to do with it, therfore it strengthens the heart and resisteth poyson, let such whose Stomachs are so weak, they cannot digest their meat or appetite it, take of Mustard Seed a dram, Cinnamon as much, and having beaten them to Pouder ad half as much Mastich in Pouder, and with Gum Arabick dissolved in Rose Water, make it up into Troches, of which they may take one of about half a dram weight an hour or two before meals, let old men and women make much of this medicine, and they will either give me thanks, or manifest ingratitude."

It was even used for horses. Douglas L. "Longshot" Ahart’s book, A Racehorse Herbal, lists a recipe for black mustard liniment which is used as a counter-irritants [38] for horses. Ahart, quoting from Samuel Thomson, a 19th Century equine veterinarian, says that this method of using mustard dates back to the dark ages in Normay. Ahart’s recipe calls for a tincture of mustard made from black mustard seeds and shepherd's purse. The two are mixed together with wine and oil and rubbed onto the horse’s injuries. Ahart mentions relief minor abrasions and chaffing from saddle straps as two of the many methods of use for this tincture.

[1] Toussaint-Samat p.526
[2] Hefner
[3] Athenaeus, Deipnosophists IV 133D.
[4] Wilson
[5] Toussaint-Samat p.527
[6] Gourmed
[7] Toussaint-Samat p.529
[8] Culpeper, Culpeper's Complete Herbal...
[9] Athenaeus, Deipnosophists IV 133D.
[10] Pichon
[11] Morris
[12] Ibid, Renfrow’s English translation
[13] Gourmed
[14] Wilson, p.281
[15] Atlas
[16] Pegge
[17] Armstrong
[18] To color any food item yellow the medieval cook normally used saffron or egg yolks.
[19] Even though this recipe is called a Mostrich, which is a northern German word for mustard, it actually gets its strong flavor from vinegar and contains no mustard at all and is included to show the variety of mustard.
[20] Chiarain
[21] A unit of measurement for wine that varied in size from region to region.
[22] Smithson
[23] Vin cotto - a reduced grape must syrup, also known as mosto cotto, saba or cooked wine. It has a sweet, tangy grape flavor.
[24] Folio 4b, pp. 73
[25] Digbie
[26] Prescott
[27] Brandric's Beer
[28] Morris
[29] Ibid, Renfrow's English translation
[30] Pegge
[31] Armstrong
[32] Chiarain
[33] Pichon
[34] Suzanna
[35] Platina
[36] Hobbs
[37] Culpeper, The English physitian
[38] Counterirritation is the application of a secondary man-made irritant to the site of the original injury, the primary irritant. Used to provide vasodilation or increased blood flow to the site of the original injury.


BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Ahart, Douglas L. "Longshot." A Racehorse Herbal. Ahart Racing. 2005

Armstrong, Valoise. Das Kuchbuch der Sabina Welserin. Translation. 1998. Http://www.daviddfriedman.com/Medieval/Cookbooks/Sabrina_Welserin.html

Athenaeus, Deipnosophists IV 133D. Translation by Ch. B.  Gulick in volume 2 of the edition in the Loeb Classical Library: Provided by  Dr. A. Dirkzwager, Hoeselt, Belgium.

Atlas, Alia. Daz Buch von Guter Spise: aus de Wurzburg-Munchener Handschrift, 1844. Translated by same. 1993. Http://cs-people.bu.edu/akatlas/Buch/buch.html

A Boke of Kokery.  Two fifteenth-century cookery-books : Harleian MS. 279 (ab 1430), & Harl. MS. 4016 (ab. 1450), with extracts from Ashmole MS. 1439, Laud MS. 553, & Douce MS. 55 / edited by Thomas Austin [electronic resource] http://www.hti.umich.edu/cgi/c/cme/cme-idx?type=HTML&rgn=DIV2&byte=3583303

ni Chiarain, Lady Brighid, An English translation of Ruperto de Nola's "Libre del Coch". Found in Stefan's Florilegium.

Culpeper, Nicholas. Culpeper's Complete Herbal And English Physician; Wherein Several Hundred Herbs; With A Display Of Their Medicinal And Occult Properties; Are Physically Applied To The Cure Of All Disorders Incident To Mankind: To Which Are Added Rules For Compounding Medicines; Forming A Complete Family Dispensatory, And System Of Physic. To Which Is Annexed The British Florist Or Flower Garden Displayed; In Which The Most Ornamental Plants Will Be Accurately Represented In Their Natural Colours; With Their Names, Class, Order, Characters, Plans Of Growth, And Times Of Flowering; Together With The Most Approved Methods Of Culture. 1814

Culpeper, Nicholas. The English physitian: or an astrologo-physical discourse of the vulgar herbs of this nation. London : Peter Cole, 1652., 1652. Yale Medical School: http://www.med.yale.edu/library/historical/culpeper/culpeper.htm

Digbie, Sir Kenelme. The Closet of the Eminently Learned Digbie Kt Opened: Whereby is Discovered Several ways for making of Metheglin, Sider, Cherry-Wine, &c. together with Excellent Directions for Cookery: As also for Preserving, Conserving, Candying, &c. First edition, London, 1669. Transcribed by  Joyce Miller

England, Joseph W. Tincture Of Mustard: Read at the Pharmaceutical Meeting, February 10th. American Journal Of Pharmacy. Botanical Medicine Monographs and Sundry Volume 61, #3, March, 1889

Gourmed Online Magizine. Dijon-style Mustard. Http://www.gourmet.gr/greek-food/show.asp?gid=9&nodeid=78&arid=3783

Greydragon, Terafan. Medieval Mustard. Drachenwald University. Http://www.greydragon.org/library/mustard.html Created13 November AS XXXIV

Hefner, Patricia. Found in Stefan's Florilegium.

Henisch, Bridget Ann. Fast and Feast: Food In Medieval Society. University Park: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1976.

Hobbs, Christopher. Vitex: The Chaste Tree. Pharmacy in History. 1998

Platina. On Right Pleasure and Good Health: A Renaissance Gentleman's Discourse On food, Health, and the Physical Pleasures. Translated and edited by Mary Ella Milham. Pegasus Press. 1994.

Pegge, Samuel. The Forme of Cury. A Tranlation of THE FORME OF CURY, A ROLL OF ANCIENT ENGLISH COOKERY. Compiled, about A.D. 1390, by the Master-Cooks of King RICHARD II, Presented afterwards to Queen ELIZABETH, by EDWARD Lord STAFFORD, And now in the Possession of GUSTAVUS BRANDER, Esq. The Project Gutenberg. June, 2003 [EBook #8102]

Pichon, Jerome. Le Menagier de Platina. 1394. Translation by Janet Hinson, 1844. Annotated and posted by David Friedman and Elizabeth Cook. Http://www.best.com/~ddfr/Medieval/Cookbooks/Menagier/Menagier.html

Pichon, Jerome. Le Menagier de Paris. 1394. Translation by Eileen Power, "The Goodman of Paris. 1928." reprinted in Richard M. Golden and Thomas Kuehn, eds., Western Societies: Primary Sources in Social History, Vol I, (New York: St Martins, 1993).

Prescott, James. Le Viandier de Taillevent. 14th Century Cookery Based on the Vatican Library. Alfarhaugr Publishing Society. Eugene, Oregon. 1989

Renfrow, Cindy. Liber Cure Cocorum: A Modern English Translation with Notes, Based on Richard Morris' transcription of 1862. (Published for the Philological Society A. Asher & Co., Berlin. 1862) http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/lcc/parallel.html

Renfrow, Cindy. Take a Thousand Eggs or More: a Translation of Medieval Recipes from Harleian MS. 279, Harleian MS. 4016 and Extracts of Ashmole MS. 1439, Laud MS. 553, and Douce MS. 55, With Nearly 100 Recipes Adapted for Modern Cookery. United States: C. Renfrow,1990.

Scully, Terence. The Art of Cookery in the Middle Ages. Woodbridge, England: Boydell P, 1995.

Smithson, Louise. Translation of Libro di cucina/ Libro per cuoco from the transcription of Ludovico Frati (ed.): Libro di cucina del secolo XIV. Livorno 1899. Translated 2002. Http://www.geocities.com/helewyse/libro.html

Suzanna the Herbalist. Found in Stefan's Florilegium.

Toussaint-Samat, Maguelonne. History of Food. Translated from the French bu Anthea Bell. Barnes & Noble Books. 1992.

Wilson, C. Anne. Food & Drink in Britain: From the Stone Age to the 19th Century. Academy Chicago Pub. 1991

Brandric's Beer 

Ingredients:

1/4 pound, flaked barley
1/4 pound, crystal malt
6 pounds, dark Australian malt extract
1/2 pound, light spray malt
1/4 pound, German Chocolate Wheat malt
1/2 cup, molasses
2 ounces, Cascade hops (boil)
1 ounce, Northern Brewer hops (finish)
British ale yeast
5 Gallons, water

Procedure:

Steep flaked  barley and  crystal malt  for 50  minutes at  153 degrees. Strain and boil with the malt extract and spray malt for 90  minutes. Add 1/3 of  boiling hops after  30 minutes. Add chocolate malt and molasses at 45 minutes. After 60 minutes add 1/3 of boiling hops. At end  of boil add  remaining hops. Let stand in primary fermenter for four weeks and another six weeks in secondary fermenter. Prime with ¼ cup of amber spray malt.

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Observations from 2015:

I have made mustard several times since I wrote this documentation, although never again for an A&S project. I have learned how to make a far superior mustard since I wrote this. I have also learned that the heat of mustard is turned on by the introduction of water and turned off by an acid or alcohol. The mustard that I made for this project was fairly low key, as I added only beer (beer is mostly water). I also used a non-period beer for this mustard: I can do better next time. For a good explanation of mustard and heat levels, check out this episode of Alton Brown's show, Good Eats. (Ignore the bad pretzel history at the beginning of the episode) I think that I will re-vamp this documentation and re-make the mustard, only using some left over red wine.

I found the judges commentary for this project and one comment leapt off of the page: "12 pages is too long for documentation at an A&S competition." I think that 12 pages of documentation (including the bibliography) is required for an item that is being cross-entered into three separate categories. While I did not win any of my categories, I think that I managed a good showing, not only for the mustard, but for my ability to document the culinary duct-tape that is mustard.