Mustard

As most mustards are made with distilled vinegar, chemical food additives and even sugar, why dont we try to make our own mustard? There is no limit on creativity when you make home made mustard.
The technique is to soak the seeds overnight in a liquid, add the herbs you wish amd crush it very well in your mortar or blender.
Mustard plus your choice of vinegar makes a great hot dog mustard, while mixing beer with  mustard results in a hot deli-style mustard. Soaking it in white wine makes a Dijon-style mustard, and mustard seed  mixed with water produces a hot yellow mustard like you get in Chinese restaurants.

Of course you need to add horseradish or wasabi to make it really hot and a pinch of salt and a squeez of lemon will add "zeste" to your product. I also add some ginger.

Start  making not too much, write every ingredient and every action down in your recipe book, and after a few times , you will become a master mustard chef.

Try to experiment adding garlic , basil, mint, thyme, marjoram, or rosemary but do not forget, sometimes less is more.

You also can make compresses, even for children, with mustard, but about that later.

In TCM we use white mustard seed (Bai Jie Zi).

The properties are pungent and warm: mustard seed warms Lung Qi, expels cold-phlegm,

dissipates nodules, reduces swelling, alleviates pain.