Mustard Seed Uses: Pickles, Tempering, Homemade Mustard and More

Whole mustard seeds have no smell and taste of very little until you crush them, wet them or heat them, and each of those does something different. Crush and wet them and you get the sharp heat of prepared mustard. Fry them in oil and that heat goes away, leaving something nutty. Drop them whole into a brine and they give pickles a mild bite. For the three kinds of seed, see yellow mustard seeds, brown mustard seeds and black mustard seeds.

At a glance

The amounts come from the recipes named.

Which seed for which job

Yellow (white) mustard is the mildest. Brown is stronger, and black slightly stronger again. Popular Science’s rule of thumb: the darker the seed, the spicier. Whole yellow seed is popular in pickles, and yellow seed is behind classic hot dog mustard. Brown or black seed is the usual choice for Indian cooking and for Dijon, which by its rules can only be made from black or brown seed.⁸ In the kitchen, black and brown are just as useful as each other.

Pickles

This is where most whole yellow seed ends up. Two tested home-canning recipes from the National Center for Home Food Preservation show the range:

• Bread-and-butter pickles: 2 tablespoons of mustard seed, 1 1/2 tablespoons of celery seed and 1 tablespoon of ground turmeric, boiled with 4 cups of vinegar and 4 1/2 cups of sugar, for about 8 pints of pickles.¹
• Quick fresh-pack dill pickles: whole mustard seed goes into each jar on its own, next to the pickling spice tied in cloth.⁹

For canned pickles, stick with a tested recipe like these instead of improvising the brine. That’s basic food safety. Mustard seed is also a standard part of pickling spice. In India, black mustard goes into pickled raw vegetables (achar), including the Andhra mango pickle avakaya.

Tempering in Indian cooking

Frying whole mustard seeds in fat is a classic South Indian technique. Katzer writes that the seeds are always fried in fat, or dry-toasted, before use. They pop and scatter, so you’ll want a lid. Along with asafetida, curry leaves and cumin, they often show up in Tamil vegetable curries. Frying changes their taste: fried or toasted seeds lose their pungency and turn nutty and smoky.² Mustard seed is also part of the South Indian spice blend sambar podi.

The usual order goes like this: heat the oil, add the seeds, wait for them to pop, then add curry leaves, cumin or chiles before the main ingredients. See cooking with curry leaves and sambar powder.

Bengal. Black mustard is one of the five seeds in panch phoron, the Bengali whole-spice blend. Bong Eats uses a tablespoon each of fennel, radhuni, mustard, fenugreek and nigella.³ Bengali cooks also grind mustard seeds with water into a fresh paste, and mustard oil is essential to several regional cuisines. See panch phoran.

Homemade mustard

Want the heat? Crush the seeds and wet them. Katzer suggests crushing whole seeds and soaking them in water for a quick mustard paste.² The heat forms when water lets an enzyme in the seed act on its sulfur compounds. Water that’s too hot kills the enzyme, and strong acid like vinegar stops it. Popular Science suggests resting homemade mustard in the fridge for two to three days.⁴

How you grind decides the style. Dijon is made from black or brown seed mixed with wine, wine vinegar or verjus, the juice of unripe grapes. Bavarian sweet mustard is made from coarsely ground yellow seed. Leave more seeds whole and you get a grainier mustard. Stronger mustard pastes usually contain more acid.

Corned beef and brined meats

Alton Brown’s corned beef uses 1 teaspoon of mustard seeds;⁵ Leite’s Culinaria’s homemade version uses 2 tablespoons.⁶ Prepared mustard is a common condiment for boiled or broiled meat in Central and Northern Europe. See corned beef and cabbage spices.

Dressings and rubs

Ground mustard seed brings two things to a dressing: flavor and stability. Mustard contains emulsifiers, which help emulsified sauces hold together.⁷ Mayonnaise and salad dressings are among yellow mustard’s uses. For a vinaigrette, grind the seed fine, or use mustard powder.

In a dry rub, ground seed adds a sharp, savory note. Toast the seeds before grinding and you’ll get a nuttier, less pungent result,² which suits a rub that’s going to be cooked anyway. McCormick’s volume conversion is 1 teaspoon of seeds to 1 1/2 teaspoons ground.¹⁰ That measures bulk, not strength; see mustard powder vs. mustard seed.

When to add the seeds

Raw mustard heat doesn’t survive long cooking. Katzer notes that heat quickly destroys the pungent compounds once they’ve formed, says there’s little point adding intact seeds to boiling foods, and suggests adding mustard as late as you can if you want some bite.² So:

• For heat, add crushed and soaked seed, or mustard made from it, at the end or to cold dishes.
• For a nutty, toasty note, fry the seeds first.
• In brines, whole seed is there for a gentle background bite.

Crushed seed also works in a honey or brown sugar glaze for ham or pork. See spices for ham.

Allergy note

Mustard is one of the 14 allergens UK food businesses have to declare.¹¹ It isn’t one of the nine major food allergens under US law,¹² so if you cook for someone with a mustard allergy, check blends like pickling spice and curry powders.

Not yet measured

• How much pungency whole seeds release into a pickle brine over time.
• A standard ratio of seed to liquid for homemade mustard. Recipes vary.
• How much stronger black seed really is than brown. Katzer only says “slightly”.²

Related

• Yellow mustard seeds, brown mustard seeds and black mustard seeds
• Yellow vs. black mustard seeds and black mustard seed substitutes
• Mustard powder uses and mustard powder vs. mustard seed
• Celery seed uses, its partner in bread-and-butter pickles