Spices and How to Know Them

by Walter M. Gibbs

The Dutch seed is considered next grade in quality to the English. In China and some parts of Europe a species is cultivated for greens for the table, which are prepared in the same way as spinach.

The great aim of the grower is to produce reddish-brown seed, without any intermixture of gray. The gray color of the seed is attributed to the influence of the rains during the ripening. The presence of this color greatly lowers the value of the seed.

The crop requires very little tillage. The seed is sown broadcast, in the month of April, at the rate of one bushel to an acre. The harvesting will take place in June and July. The land is sufficiently seeded to produce two crops, which are sometimes gathered in one year. A yield of forty bushels to an acre is not uncommon. The seed weighs sixty pounds to the bushel.

Mustard was first introduced as a table condiment in the year 1720 by an old lady named Clements, residing in Durham. It is from this fact that the well-known Durham mustard takes its name. She prepared it in a crude form by grinding the seed in a small hand mill. The product was nothing more than the crushed seed. This was passed through mesh sieves to separate the bran from the husk. The secret of this process she kept for many years.

Mustard was used as a medicine by the ancients and is spoken of in history by Theophrastus and Galen and others. Its use as a condiment is spoken of by Shakespeare in “Taming of the Shrew,” Act IV, Scene III. The mustard which was made in the time of King George, who gave it his approval, was made from the wild charlock S. arvensis and was prepared by Lady Clements.

But as manufacturing gradually developed, in order to cater to public taste, the seed meal has been changed to the genuine mustard of to-day, which is the farina or flour of the black or white mustard seed, made from the interior of the seed, which is separated from the outer coat or shell.

Mustard seed contains so much oil that it cannot be ground on common burr stones. It is prepared for market by first passing it through a winnowing machine to remove the dust and any other foreign material; it is next crushed by passing it between rollers; then it is placed in silk bags made for that purpose, and the volatile oil is extracted by hydraulic pressure. After the cake is dried it is put into pots and is stamped or pounded by a system of battery pounding, or by means of roller mills, in which the pounders vary in number from two to four, eight, twelve, or sixteen. The pounding or stamping continues until the cake is reduced to the consistency of soft middlings, or to the required powder. It is next scooped out into a trough and more cake is put into the pots. The stamping continues until all the cake is used up. Then it is scooped for bolting on sieves made of silk cloth of fine or coarse mesh, as required, which are set in frames and given a shaking motion by an upright shaft, the meal falling into a receptacle below. The quality of powdered mustard varies much, according to the quality of the mustard seed. Prime seed yields 50 to 60 per cent. of flour, and poor seed will run as low as 28 per cent. It does not pay to prepare poor seed, as the time lost in its preparation would not make up for the cheapness of it.

The operation of properly reducing mustard seed requires expert handling, and it can easily be ruined by incompetent operators. More than 50 or 60 per cent. of meal might be taken out at the first sifting, but to do so the bran would have to be chopped up so fine that some would pass through the sieve and spoil the appearance of the flour. The flour which is taken out at the first sifting is called superfine. If no more could be obtained from the seed than the superfine flour, it is very clear that the mustard flour would cost nearly or quite twice as much as the cake, with all the labor added. But to save this extra cost the miller often adds to the remaining bran or tailings an equal quantity of good wheat flour, and also 1 per cent. of good Cayenne pepper, and sufficient color (tumeric) to give the same tinge as that of pure mustard. Pound this as before and by the same process, the flour remaining is separated from the bran and united with the wheat flour. In passing through the sieve, 75 per cent. of the compound may be extracted. This product, which is better than most of the adulterated, is called fine. Nearly all of the wheat flour will pass through the sieves, and about 25 per cent. of the mustard and this 25 per cent. of bran is treated as before. As the wheat flour is increased, the hulls or bran will be less apt to affect the appearance of the mustard. This is called seconds. It is admitted that much of the good property of the mustard is in the bran, and, after all, it is only necessary to extract it to satisfy a popular prejudice as to what a fine, yellow color pure mustard ought to have. This notion is often wrong, just as coloring butter to please the eyes is wrong. These mixtures may all be mixed and powdered together, if rightly colored, and again bolted to make various grades, or, with experience in the use of a mill and an acquaintance with the nature of the particular kind of seed or the quality of the pressed cake, it may be powdered from the start, if sufficient adulteration is added to the cake. Thus a grade combining all the qualities may be made at one operation. This process reduces the labor to a minimum. After the sifting is completed there will remain a residue in the sieves, which is called dressing. This is used in wet mustard or French mustard, as it is known to the consumer. It is sometimes used by pickle manufacturers.

WET MUSTARD OR FRENCH MUSTARD,

Consists of a compound of crushed mustard seed and vinegar, the seed having been passed between rollers and then washed into a cask or vat. With it there is often mixed garlic and such spice or flavoring material as the fancy or experience of the manufacturer will determine. This compound is ground two or three times through a stone mill or through a line of several mills, the material being fed from one to the other until it is received in a final reservoir, from which it is put up in bottles. It is of a consistency of paste, which contains all the mustard, the oil, the flour, and the bran. It may be compounded with an indefinite variety of material, and the refuse bran of dry mustard may also be added. Its use is steadily increasing, and a very satisfactory article may be made at home by thoroughly pounding the seed and mixing it with good vinegar. In this way the maker can be sure that his compound has the virtue of purity and also of cheapness.