Kitchen riddle solved

Two brave souls offered guesses to the kitchen riddle I posted below. This odd mix of powder, seeds and allyl isothiocyanates turned out to be neither cheese or home-made poison.....

it's MUSTARD! While you probably think I'm crazy to waste time and effort to make mustard, one taste will convince you otherwise. Jeff loves it on roast beef, burgers and sandwiches while I love it in salad dressings, marinades or mixed with brown sugar to glaze salmon or ham. This year's batch was my 14th (if memory serves correctly) and I used Guinness for the base. It's the only Martha Stewart recipe I regularly make and its one I'm happy to share.

adapted from Martha Stewart Living Magazine
yield: ~ 3.5 cups

1 cup mustard powder

1 cup water

3/4 cup of mixed brown and yellow mustard seeds (I usually do 1/2 cup of brown and 1/4 cup of yellow)

1 1/4 cup dark beer (this year was Guinness but I have used all sorts of stouts and ales to great success)

1 1/4 cups white-wine vinegar

2 Tbsp. sugar

2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. ground allspice

1/4 tsp. ground turmeric

1/4 tsp. ground mace

1. In a glass measure, combine mustard powder and water. Mix well and let stand for 20 minutes.

2. In a non reactive bowl, combine beer, vinegar and mustard seeds. Add mustard powder mixture and mix well. Cover the bowl with a non-reactive plate and let sit 48 hours.

3. Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Transfer to a food processor and process. If you want grainy mustard, process 1-2 minutes; for a creamier mustard, process 5-6 minutes.

4. Transfer to airtight containers and refrigerate 1 week before using to let the flavours develop. Martha Stewart says the mustard keeps for 1 month but in my experience, it keeps well for at least 6 months.

5. Enjoy!