Homemade Mustard

You know those people that you initially dislike but then grow to love? I like to describe those people as mustard.  Mustard, wine, coffee, blue cheese -- those foods that needs time to appreciate.  They're not easy flavors for children to like -- bit too harsh for those delicate little palates. 

I used to love those cheap hot dogs with questionable meat in malls.  I remember the condiment section with the bright yellow bottles and the bright red bottles.  I'd slather those bad boys with ketchup, and despite hating mustard, I'd always try just a tiny little bit of it.  Just the tiniest dollop of it on one end, enough to see but not enough to taste.  I don't know why, I think I wanted to like it.  Unfortunately my love for mustard only came about much later on.  For the longest time, my experience with mustard was limited to the American yellow mustard, and I thought that that was all that there was.  Then one day my father introduced me to wholegrain mustard, and it wasn't exactly love at first taste, but it was the first mustard experience that didn't make me grimace in disgust.

Slowly I was exposed to more types of mustards and started loving them all.  With steak, with salad dressings, with everything, it just adds the perfect kick to a mundane dish.  So I was overjoyed to discover that you can easily make them at home.  Really easily.  You essentially just mix mustard seeds, honey and vinegar and let it sit for a few days, and blend it up.  Now, the beauty is its versatility. You can experiment with the type of vinegar, you can add beers and wines, you can add spices, you can mix up the type of mustard seeds, you can switch up the sweetener with maple syrup, the possibilities are endless.
I got this recipe from David Lebovitz, and I used a mixture of yellow mustard seeds and black mustard seeds because the former's a bit mild.  It's my first time making mustard so it needs some work.  For some reason it was really thin, the mustard seeds didn't absorb all the liquid as David said it would...  It's still quite mild, maybe it's because I didn't add any horseradish, whereas David did.  Anyway, use this as a guide, I'll keep experimenting and I'll keep you updated. 

Recipe adapted from David Lebovitz 
Ingredients
1/3 cup mustard seeds (I did half yellow, half black)
1/3 cup white wine vinegar
1/3 cup water (here you can use beer or white wine)
1 tbsp honey
1 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp salt

Method
Mix all the ingredients in a bowl, cover and let sit for 2-3 days.

Put everything in a food processor and whizz until you reach your desired consistency.