Homemade Maple Mustard

It’s maple season, so to make room for the new jars in the cellar, I’ve been cooking with some of the old dark syrups from years gone by. Since eating pancakes will only help you use so much, I figured I’d make a few different maple mustards. If you love mustard, but have never made homemade mustard, you’re in for a treat, especially if you like it hot, and I’m talking spicy hot here, the way mustard was supposed to be. 

Old-fashioned mustard will be thick and slightly sweet. Don’t mind the snow. 

Old-Fashioned Stovetop Mustard

There’s a lot of different ways to make mustard, some as simple as combining raw mustard seeds with vinegar. Dijon mustard is typically made with wine.

This is an oldschool, stove top mustard, meaning that you’ll need a couple eggs, and a double boiler fashioned from a stainless steel mixing bowl situated over a pot of simmering water. If you’ve never used a double boiler, don’t worry, it’s easy, and I’ve shown plenty of people how to do it over the years. 

Caraway, like these wild ones from the North Shore make a great addition.

Variations 

This is where things get fun. The basic mustard is kind of a blank slate, it doesn’t have to be just mustard. Back in my restaurant days I used to put all kinds of things in the mustard when it was done for variety.

Seeds, especially things like caraway and cumin are really good, but you could put all kinds of different spices in it if you wanted. 

Switch up the liquid 

The liquid here comes from the vinegar. Know that if you remove the vinegar, you will also decrease the shelf life to a week or so. That being said, some mustards can be very good made with different liquids added, and it allows you to get really creative, just make sure to use them quickly. Here’s a few ideas of liquids that are nice to add: 

• Fruit juice, especially dark fruit juices like wild grape or aronia 
• Very dark beer 
• Use a different vinegar, such as maple, apple cider, or a homemade fruit vinegar 

If you like sweet honey mustard 

This is maple mustard, but it isn’t as candy sweet as commercial honey mustard. It’s more along the lines of mustard with maple in it. I don’t personally care for overly sweet mustards, but if you do, here’s how you can up the sugar content here. 

Maple contains a lot more water than sugar does, so you have to take that into account. To increase the maple that I’ve used here, I would start with 1/2 a cup.

The only difference here, is that before making the mustard, you’ll want to bring the maple to a boil in a small pan and reduce it by about 1/3 (it won’t take long at all, a minute maybe). From there, pour the maple directly into the blender, scraping the sides of pan, then add the vinegar, eggs and mustard, buzz it all up and proceed. 

Print Recipe

5 from 2 votes

Old-Fashioned Maple Mustard

An old-fashioned stovetop mustard flavored with maple syrup. It's spicy hot. Yield: 1.5 cups

Prep Time5 mins

Cook Time30 mins

Course: Condiment

Cuisine: American

Keyword: Maple, Mustard

Servings: 8

Ingredients

• ½ cup apple cider vinegar
• ½ cup Colemans mustard powder
• 1/4 cup maple syrup 1/2 cup brown sugar can be substituted
• 1/4 cup apple sauce or 1 large apple*
• 2 large eggs
• ¼ teaspoon salt

Instructions

• Puree all ingredients together in a blender (you can also use a handblender if it's easier, or whisk as a last resort) then pour the mixture into a stainless steel mixing bowl of about 1.5 qt capacity.
• Set the mixing bowl on top of a small pot filled with a few inches of water (the bowl shouldn’t touch the water).
• Bring the pot to a simmer, turn the heat to low, then cook, stirring occasionally, until the mustard thickens, typically about 30 minutes.
• Cool the mustard and refrigerate. Even though it contains cooked egg, the mustard will keep for weeks in the fridge due to the sugar and vinegar.

Notes

*To make this using an apple, peel and chop a baking apple into pieces, then puree in a blender with a cup of water and cook down to a paste, then proceed as directed.