MUSTARD
You are an appetizer prime,
And a friend in time of pain.
What did they do without you, pray,
Before Old Lady Clements’ time?
FRENCH, _Moutarde_; German, _Senf_; Portuguese, _Mustarda_; Spanish,
_Maszaza_.
The mustard of commerce is the seed, whole or powdered, of the several
species of the genus brassica (or sinapis) of the mustard family. They
are (cruciferous) plants which grow wild, or cinnamon charlock, and are
cultivated under various conditions.
Mustard dates back through a number of centuries, and the mustard tree,
spoken of in Luke XIII, 19, which attains a height of ten or even
fifteen feet in Palestine, was probably the true mustard, brassica
(sinapis) nigra, according to Ragle and others. The tree meant is
Salvadora Persica, a small tree bearing minute berries with pungent
seeds which bear the name in Arabic of mustard. Hippocrates used it in
medicine under the name of vanuit.
In the time of Queen Elizabeth, the Dutch were employed to throw out the
earth from the eighty-foot dyke to drain the farms of Lincolnshire,
Norfolk, and Cambridgeshire, which were covered with water and had been
the habitation of wild fowls. This dirt was found to contain small brown
seeds which, on being exposed to the sun and air, sprouted and grew into
plants, producing a yellow blossom which proved to be mustard.
The two common varieties are the black or brown mustard, known as
(brassica sinapis nigra), and the white seed, as it is called, although
of a yellow color (brassica sinapis alba), usually found in whole mixed
spices. The Indian wild brown mustard seed (rai or charlock juncea
Sarepta brassica), taking the name Sarepta from the city of that name in
Russia, in the government of Saratov, is sometimes offered as the black
mustard. Sinapis glauca and sinapis ramosa yield a white seed found in
South Russia and in the steppes northeast of the Caspian Sea. Mustard is
known by every farmer and is an annual herb (see illustration), from
three to six feet high, with lyrate leaves, yellowish flower, and
slender pods containing round seed; it may be grown almost anywhere.
As only a few kinds of mustard seed are known to commerce, we will
confine our history principally to the black seed, which is yellow
within (brassica nigra), and which furnishes the most aroma. The seeds
are very small and do not weigh more than one-fiftieth of a grain, while
the seed of brassica alba, or the white seed, as it is called, is three
times as large as the black.
Mustard seed is found in almost all of Europe, except the most northern
part, in Northern Africa, Asia Minor, the United States, Mesopotamia,
the West Indies, South Siberia, and China. It is naturalized in North
and South America, and is cultivated to a great extent in Bohemia,
Holland, and Italy, and in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire, England. It is
generally put up for market in bags of 200 pounds each. Much of the
black seed (Fig. 5) comes from California, and is brought to the Eastern
market by railroads; much comes also from Kentucky. Each of these States
produce large crops, and the New York Spice Mills use large quantities
of it on account of its being cheaper than the imported. It does not
contain as much flour as the yellow seed, but it is sweeter. The best
dark seed comes from Italy and is exported from the city of Trieste,
Austria, and is called Trieste mustard. (See illustration.) It is often
sent by the Mediterranean Sea to London, and from there is transferred
to New York vessels, although some comes direct from Bombay and Sicily.
The yellow or large, plump, straw-colored, rough, hairy seed (Fig. 4) is
much less remunerative than the black, smooth seed; is white inside,
and, though a native of Asia, is found in Russia and Africa. The best of
it comes from England, and is often called English mustard.
[Illustration: TRIESTE, AUSTRIA]
The Dutch seed is considered next grade in quality to the English. In
China and some parts of Europe a species is cultivated for greens for
the table, which are prepared in the same way as spinach.
The great aim of the grower is to produce reddish-brown seed, without
any intermixture of gray. The gray color of the seed is attributed to
the influence of the rains during the ripening. The presence of this
color greatly lowers the value of the seed.
The crop requires very little tillage. The seed is sown broadcast, in
the month of April, at the rate of one bushel to an acre. The harvesting
will take place in June and July. The land is sufficiently seeded to
produce two crops, which are sometimes gathered in one year. A yield of
forty bushels to an acre is not uncommon. The seed weighs sixty pounds
to the bushel.
Mustard was first introduced as a table condiment in the year 1720 by an
old lady named Clements, residing in Durham. It is from this fact that
the well-known Durham mustard takes its name. She prepared it in a crude
form by grinding the seed in a small hand mill. The product was nothing
more than the crushed seed. This was passed through mesh sieves to
separate the bran from the husk. The secret of this process she kept for
many years.
Mustard was used as a medicine by the ancients and is spoken of in
history by Theophrastus and Galen and others. Its use as a condiment is
spoken of by Shakespeare in “Taming of the Shrew,” Act IV, Scene III.
The mustard which was made in the time of King George, who gave it his
approval, was made from the wild charlock S. arvensis and was prepared
by Lady Clements.
But as manufacturing gradually developed, in order to cater to public
taste, the seed meal has been changed to the genuine mustard of to-day,
which is the farina or flour of the black or white mustard seed, made
from the interior of the seed, which is separated from the outer coat or
shell.
Mustard seed contains so much oil that it cannot be ground on common
burr stones. It is prepared for market by first passing it through a
winnowing machine to remove the dust and any other foreign material; it
is next crushed by passing it between rollers; then it is placed in silk
bags made for that purpose, and the volatile oil is extracted by
hydraulic pressure. After the cake is dried it is put into pots and is
stamped or pounded by a system of battery pounding, or by means of
roller mills, in which the pounders vary in number from two to four,
eight, twelve, or sixteen. The pounding or stamping continues until the
cake is reduced to the consistency of soft middlings, or to the required
powder. It is next scooped out into a trough and more cake is put into
the pots. The stamping continues until all the cake is used up. Then it
is scooped for bolting on sieves made of silk cloth of fine or coarse
mesh, as required, which are set in frames and given a shaking motion by
an upright shaft, the meal falling into a receptacle below. The quality
of powdered mustard varies much, according to the quality of the mustard
seed. Prime seed yields 50 to 60 per cent. of flour, and poor seed will
run as low as 28 per cent. It does not pay to prepare poor seed, as the
time lost in its preparation would not make up for the cheapness of it.
The operation of properly reducing mustard seed requires expert
handling, and it can easily be ruined by incompetent operators. More
than 50 or 60 per cent. of meal might be taken out at the first sifting,
but to do so the bran would have to be chopped up so fine that some
would pass through the sieve and spoil the appearance of the flour. The
flour which is taken out at the first sifting is called superfine. If no
more could be obtained from the seed than the superfine flour, it is
very clear that the mustard flour would cost nearly or quite twice as
much as the cake, with all the labor added. But to save this extra cost
the miller often adds to the remaining bran or tailings an equal
quantity of good wheat flour, and also 1 per cent. of good Cayenne
pepper, and sufficient color (tumeric) to give the same tinge as that of
pure mustard. Pound this as before and by the same process, the flour
remaining is separated from the bran and united with the wheat flour. In
passing through the sieve, 75 per cent. of the compound may be
extracted. This product, which is better than most of the adulterated,
is called fine. Nearly all of the wheat flour will pass through the
sieves, and about 25 per cent. of the mustard and this 25 per cent. of
bran is treated as before. As the wheat flour is increased, the hulls or
bran will be less apt to affect the appearance of the mustard. This is
called seconds. It is admitted that much of the good property of the
mustard is in the bran, and, after all, it is only necessary to extract
it to satisfy a popular prejudice as to what a fine, yellow color pure
mustard ought to have. This notion is often wrong, just as coloring
butter to please the eyes is wrong. These mixtures may all be mixed and
powdered together, if rightly colored, and again bolted to make various
grades, or, with experience in the use of a mill and an acquaintance
with the nature of the particular kind of seed or the quality of the
pressed cake, it may be powdered from the start, if sufficient
adulteration is added to the cake. Thus a grade combining all the
qualities may be made at one operation. This process reduces the labor
to a minimum. After the sifting is completed there will remain a residue
in the sieves, which is called dressing. This is used in wet mustard or
French mustard, as it is known to the consumer. It is sometimes used by
pickle manufacturers.
WET MUSTARD OR FRENCH MUSTARD,
Consists of a compound of crushed mustard seed and vinegar, the seed
having been passed between rollers and then washed into a cask or vat.
With it there is often mixed garlic and such spice or flavoring material
as the fancy or experience of the manufacturer will determine. This
compound is ground two or three times through a stone mill or through a
line of several mills, the material being fed from one to the other
until it is received in a final reservoir, from which it is put up in
bottles. It is of a consistency of paste, which contains all the
mustard, the oil, the flour, and the bran. It may be compounded with an
indefinite variety of material, and the refuse bran of dry mustard may
also be added. Its use is steadily increasing, and a very satisfactory
article may be made at home by thoroughly pounding the seed and mixing
it with good vinegar. In this way the maker can be sure that his
compound has the virtue of purity and also of cheapness.
As the fixed oil has no pungency or mustard taste, it adds nothing to
the flavor of the flour, but, instead, injures its keeping qualities,
and, if left in, makes the seed very difficult to be pulverized. It is
used as a salad and there is a ready market for it, as there is a great
demand for it by the Jewish people.
Since hydraulic presses are expensive, costing from $2,000 to $4,000
each, but a small number of the spice millers press their own mustard
seed. They either buy the mustard cake, which has been prepared by
special mustard mills, or buy the pure or adulterated flour, already
prepared for the market.
Some spice millers are suspicious of the cake, fearing it may be
adulterated or be made up of partially poor seed, or of the refuse of
previous workings, and they have good reasons for their fears, as such
adulteration might occur, but as the pure article is to be judged by the
flavor and pungency it may possess, it is as easy to test the cake as
the seed.
Mustard is not only very popular as a condiment but is a medicinal
rubefacient, as it has many stimulating properties. The use of mustard
plasters every household is familiar with; mustard also promotes
digestion, and it is a splendid emetic in case of poisoning. A good
story is told of a quack doctor who advertised electric belts for sale.
He had received many testimonials from those who had bought them, his
patrons speaking very highly of the benefit they had received from their
use, but as the belts became worn and were ripped open it was found that
the electricity they contained was made up of mustard flour.
In the ground mustard or mustard meal, as has been explained, we have
only the interior of the seed, with the exception of the few small
portions of the husk, which may have escaped in the operation of
bolting. The presence of these fragments enables us to recognize the
source from which the flour is derived, and also to detect the use of
mustard hulls as an adulterant of other food materials.
The farina or black and white mustard differs but little in appearance.
The brown, however, is slightly darker. The outer colorous epidermis
consists of angular plates, or hexagonal tabular cells, with a center of
different brilliancy. It swells up and becomes slimy in water, and,
therefore, must be observed in glycerine. At the best it requires some
manipulation to see it well, and it is far less prominent in the black
seed.
The next coat, denominated the subepidermal, is not prominent and can
only be seen at all easily in the white seed.
The third layer is an important one, and in it is found the coloring
matter of the brown seed. Its absence is the cause of the lack of color
in the white variety. By this layer one is able to tell whether the
flour is a mixture of both the black and white seed or if it is derived
from one only. Fragments of this layer are common in powdered mustard.
It is distinguished by the thick or colorless brown cell walls and their
irregular dotted appearance. Between the third and second layers are
numerous cells containing some color in the brown seed, but of little
importance. Within these comes the important layer, denominated the
inner tunic or plasma layer. It separates readily from the other parts
of the husk and is often found by itself in the powdered mustard. As its
contents are broken up by water or chloral-hydrate, it is necessary to
use glycerine or oil in mounting.
The cells and their contents of this layer are large and much alike in
both the black and white seed. The interior of the mustard seed is made
up of small, soft parenchyma cells, containing the oil and the other
constituents of the mustard, but without any trace of starch—a fact
which makes adulterations easily detected.
The peculiar pungency and odor of the black seed are due to an essential
or fixed oil, myronic acid, which is developed by the action of cold
water (hot water will not answer) on two peculiar chemical substances
which it contains, which form a compound, termed by the discoverers
myronate of potash, but since called synanthrin, an acid with formula
C_{10}H_{19}NS_{2}O_{10}. This acid is converted into the volatile oil
of mustard or sulphocyanide of allyl C_{4}H_{5}NS, or
C N } S.
C_{3}H_{5} }
Through the agency of the myrosin, another constituent of brown seed,
when the two are brought in contact through the medium of water, we have
vegetable albumen, a bitter principle, a little gum and sugar, and a
peculiar green substance, cellulose, and mineral water, called
sulphocyanide of sinapine.[8] The aqueous extract of yellow mustard seed
yields with a solution of ferric chloride a deep, blood-red coloration,
which is scarcely perceptible with similar extract of black mustard. The
aqueous extract of white mustard acquires a powerful odor of sulphurated
hydrogen in a few hours, while that of the black seed smells only of the
pungent mustard oil.
-----
Footnote 8:
Sinapaline sincaline.
White mustard seed contains from 25 per cent. to 35 per cent. of an
inodorous fixed oil with a little tendency to become rancid and of
little pungency, which it will not give up in water. In place of
myronic acid converted into volatile oil of mustard, it contains a
non-volatile, bitter and acrid salt termed sulphocyanide of sinapine
(C_{17}H_{24}N_{2}SO_{5} or C_{16}H_{23}NO_{5}CNHS), myrosin gum
cellulose and mineral matter. Now, as it is on the volatile oil and
the acrid and somewhat bitter salt that the pungency and acridity of
mustard depend, we can see a strong reason why in the mustard of
commerce the farina of the two species, black and white seed, should
be blended together, in the proportion of two parts of white to one of
black. The black seed does contain some of the acrid principle as well
as the volatile oil, as has been verified by the action of nitric
acid, caustic potash, and ferric chloride, on the alcoholic extract.
It is, therefore, the most valuable of the two seeds on account of the
little volatile oil in the yellow seed. The acrid principle of white
mustard appears to possess but little stability, although it has been
said to bear a temperature of 130 degrees C. We find that it is
readily affected by heat and that it is not safe to evaporate the
alcoholic solution containing it at a higher temperature than about 30
degrees C., for, if subjected to a much higher temperature, it quickly
loses its acridity and acquires a bitter, caramel-like taste.
The oil extracted by ether from the brown seed is of a bright and
beautiful emerald-green color, owing to the peculiar green principle
described as one of its constituents. So deep and remarkable is the
color of the oil that it would be easy by means of a graduated scale of
tints to determine with very tolerable certainty the percentage of brown
mustard contained in any sample of mixed mustard. Specific gravity,
1.017; boils at 148 degrees.
Myronate of potash decomposes under the influence of the nitrogenous
matter contained in brown mustard into volatile oil, glucose, and acid
sulphate of potash. The quantity of each of these products of
decomposition gives, therefore, by simple calculation, the quantity of
myronic acid; one hundred parts of this acid yield 23.85 parts of
volatile oil.
Place forty to fifty grammes of mustard farina in a flask of about
one-half liter capacity; 250 cubic centimeters of tepid water should be
poured over it, then close the flask with a cork and shake well. After
twenty-four hours’ standing connect the flask with a Liebig’s condenser
and heat to boiling. Pour thirty cubic centimeters strong ammonia into
the receiver, the end of the condenser being dipped below the surface of
the liquid. Water and the volatile oil will pass over, the oil at first
floating in the shape of oily drops on the surface of the liquid, which
soon sinks to the bottom, especially when the liquid is gently agitated.
When no more oil globules pass over, the distillation has finished. The
receiver should be closed with a cork and allowed to stand twenty-four
hours; at the end of this time all the oil will be dissolved and is now
contained in the liquid in the form of thiosinamine (C_{4}H_{8}N_{2}).
This solution is evaporated on the water bath in a weighed platinum
basin, the residue dried and weighed, and the quantity of thiosinamine
obtained, minus one molecule of ammonia, represents the amount of
volatile oil. To estimate the amount of myrosin or albumen and
sulphocyanide of sinapine, the amount of nitrogen and sulphur in the
mustard should first be obtained, the former by combustion with soda
lime in the well-known manner, and the latter by deflagration of the
mustard and oxidation of its sulphur in a mixture of nitrate of soda and
carbonate of potash. First, dissolve the mass in water or diluted acid,
and the sulphuric acid contained in the solution is estimated by means
of chloride of barium, and, from this data the amount of the myrosin and
of the sulphocyanide of sinapine, the acrid principle is calculated. As
much sulphur and nitrogen are first deducted from the totals of these
substances obtained as is contained in the quantity of myronic acid
previously determined.
Next, the whole remaining sulphur, and as much of the nitrogen as is
required, are estimated in the acrid principle, and, lastly, the surplus
nitrogen is calculated into myrosin, which has the same formula as
vegetable albumen. But now, having the amount of the acrid principle and
of the myrosin, a further calculation has to be made, since myrosin
contains about 1 per cent. of sulphur, and this can be deducted from the
total acrid principle, a corresponding quantity of nitrogen being in
turn calculated into myrosin.
Chemical composition of white mustard:
Moisture, 9.32 with
variations
Fat, 25.56
Cellulose, 10.52
Sulphur, 0.99
Nitrogen, 4.54
Albuminoids, 28.37
Myrosin 5.24
Albumin,
Soluble Matter, 27.38
Volatile Oil, 0.006
Ash, 4.57
Soluble, 0.55
Chemical composition of brown mustard seed:
Moisture, 8.52
Fat, 25.54
Cellulose, 9.01
Albuminoids, 25.50
Myrosin and Albumin, 5.24
Soluble Matter, 24.22
Nitrogen, 4.38
Sulphur, 1.28
Ash, 4.98
Fixed Oil, 36.00
Volatile Oil, 0.473
Potassium Myronate, 1.692
Soluble, 1.11
with
some
variations
Mustard is, no doubt, adulterated more than any other of the condiments,
unless it be black pepper. Tumeric is the great agent used to bring out
the desired color in the adulteration, and Cayenne pepper is used to
give it a tonic flavor. In fact, tumeric has been so extensively used in
adulterating the mustard flour that many consumers have become so
accustomed to it that, in judging the prepared mustard meal with the
eye, they prefer it on account of its yellow color to the genuine
mustard. It is claimed by some that tumeric is desirable in toning down
the pungency of mustard and in adding to its keeping quality, but if it
was too pungent more yellow seed might be used in place of an admixture.
Tumeric is treated more as a constituent of the mustard than as a
foreign substance—a fact which makes it appear almost a commercial
necessity. This should not be allowed.
The natural color of a pure meal is grayish or ashen, more like that of
corn meal, and accordingly corn meal is considered a very good article
to use as an adulterant; turnip, radish, and rape seed, and broken
crackers are also often used. They are mixed with mustard seed and
milled with it to increase the bulk and obtain more value from the cake.
Tumeric, whose coloring matter is called curcumin, is a root containing
starch. It resembles ginger and is ground in the same way as ginger. It
is more generally used in preference to ocher or yellow earth. As
mustard flour does not contain any starch, the fraudulent tumeric and
starch are readily detected in the farina by the use of iodine and
ammonia. Place a little of the suspected sample, which has been
previously heated and afterwards allowed to cool, on a piece of glass
and add the ammonia or iodine, when the brown coloring principle of the
tumeric will be brought out. It may also be detected by its action with
borax or boric acid and Martin yellow (dinitronapthol) by the use of 95
per cent. of alcohol. If capsicum be present the test would best be
observed by treating the dry mustard with strong alcohol by percolation,
which would develop the peculiar pungency of the capsicum when
concentrated. The microscope is the best aid to detect it. Wheat flour,
if used to adulterate, contains but 1.2 to 2.1 per cent., and reduces
the natural yellow color of mustard, which must then be toned up with
tumeric or some other coloring matter.
In the discussion of the analysis of mustard seed we may add that the
flour is fairly constant in its composition; water is present in small
amounts, varying between 3 and 7 per cent.; ash varies between 4 and 6
per cent., and so foreign mineral matter is easily detected. Volatile
oil is present in the seed in small amounts, varying from 2.06 in one to
as little as 0.55 in another. Fixed oil is one of the most prominent
constituents of the seed. It varies in amount from 31 to 37 per cent.
Starch is entirely absent in the whole seed. Crude fiber varies,
depending on the care and method of milling. The amount should not be
more than 6 to 7 per cent. Albuminoids make up a large part of the seed,
varying from 25 to 30 per cent. If they are below 20 per cent. this fact
points to dilution with material poor in nitrogen. The undetermined
matter consists of gum and some unidentified substances soluble in
alcohol, whose estimation is of no particular value, as a means of
detecting adulterations.
As a whole, for general reference, the following table may be used:
Water, 3 to 7 per cent.
Ash, 4 to 6 per cent.
Volatile Oil, ½ to 2 per cent.
Fixed Oil, 31 to 37 per cent., from
entire seed
Fixed Oil, 16 to 18 per cent., from
cake
Starch, None
Crude Fiber, 5 to 18 per cent.
Albuminoids, 25 to 32 per cent.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Illustration: SAGE
1 Flower
2 Flower without stamens]