Introducing SpecD’s all-new Christmas 2012 mustard recipe: Pomegranate Cranberry Mustard!
Home made mustard is just about the most perfect “loving hands at home” food gift one could ever hope for:
- Surprisingly easy!
- Wonderfully adaptable, so you can add whatever fruits and spices that strike your fancy!!
- Joyfully inexpensive when you buy mustard seeds in bulk online!!!
(Don’t even think of buying mustard seeds in those little jars at the grocery store unless you’re one of the 1% and “the girl” will making it for you.)
Artisanal mustard is the Christmas miracle gift, made by loving hands at home. And this slightly sweet pink concoction will be a real crowd-pleaser. Trust me. Seriously.
The method is the same used in the recipes for our famous Jalapeno Cilantro Mustard and Cranberry Rosemary Mustard: Soak mustard seeds in vinegar for three or more days, flavor with dried fruit, spices and/or herbs and grind it all up into a smooth paste in a sturdy blender. (Food processors, so good at so many things, are nowhere near up to the job of grinding rock-hard mustard seeds.)
This big-batch recipe will make two dozen 8 oz. jars. The recipe includes instructions for canning the mustard for long-term storage but this is a perfectly fine gift to be given fresh. Don’t worry, it won’t go bad, with all the vinegar and the intense pungency of the mustard this more than sturdy enough to keep a few days out of the fridge.
POMEGRANATE CRANBERRY MUSTARD: HOME MADE CHRISTMAS GIFT!
2 lbs. yellow mustard seeds (buy in bulk at spice stores if you’re lucky to have one nearby, otherwise buy mustard seeds in bulk online)
2 qts. white vinegar
1 lb. fresh cranberries
1 t. salt
1 8 oz. bottle pure pomegranate juice
Place the mustard seeds and cranberries in a large non-reactive pot or bowl. Pour in enough vinegar to just cover the seeds. Cover the pot or bowl. Do not refrigerate.
Check back in a couple of hours. The mustard seeds soak up the vinegar quickly at the start of the soak. Pour in more vinegar, again just to cover the seeds. Cover and let soak.
Continue this process for three or more days. You can let the mustard soak, just barely covered in vinegar, for up to a week.
Prepare 24 glass jam jars for canning (sterilize the jars and lids in boiling water).
Ladle 3 cups of the vinegar, mustard seed and cranberry soak into a blender. Run blender on puree or liquefy – the really high settings. With the blades running, slowly pour in the pomegranate juice. The juice will thin the mixture so that it circulates in the blender like a milkshake.
One minute in the blender on high speed will give you a creamy mustard that still retains identifiable specks of cranberry and pieces of mustard seed.
Pour the prepared mustard into a large mixing bowl. Repeat the process until it’s all been pureed. Use a spatula to stir and fold the mustard in the bowl to even out the color tones and consistency.
Fill the jam jars to within 1/4″ of the top. Wipe rims clean, top with lids, screw on bands and process in a boiling water bath for 15 minutes.
