What you’ve been given is a mustard ball. Essentially a preserved, portable form of mustard that dates back to medieval Italy. These were made to be carried on horseback or packed for travel. When someone wanted mustard, they’d simply rehydrate one of these dried balls using a liquid like vinegar, verjuice (sour grape juice), or wine to create an instant mustard sauce. Think of it as an early version of a sauce packet: shelf-stable, compact, and ready to be transformed.
The ball you have is based on several historical recipes that combine ground mustard seed, raisins, salt, cinnamon, and cloves. It’s sweet, spicy, and sharp, all in one. Because the base ingredients are the same as those used in the historical “red mustard” recipes from the same location and time period, you can turn your traveling mustard ball into a red-style mustard at home by blending it with a few pantry staples.
To turn your mustard ball into red mustard:
You’ll need:
1 mustard ball
1-2 tbs apple cider vinegar (or verjuice, wine, or grape juice)
1-2 tbs water
Instructions:
Place the mustard ball in a small bowl or jar. Pour in the vinegar and water and let it soak for 10–15 minutes to soften.
Once soft, mash it thoroughly with a fork until smooth.
With most mustards, for best flavor, you need to let it rest for at least 24 hours in the refrigerator. This gives the enzymes time to mellow the bitterness and allows the flavors to blend. However, the beauty of the traveling mustard is the process of creating the mustard balls deactivates the bitter enzymes present in the mustard and it is ready to eat immediately.
Traveling Mustard
By Platina, fifteenth century. From Mary Ella Milham, trans., Platina, On Right Pleasure and Good Health: A Critical Eidtion and Translation of De Honesta Voluptate et Valetudine (Tempe, AZ, 1998)
Mix mustard and well-pounded raisins, a little cinnamon and cloves, and make little balls or bits from this mixture. When they have dried on a board, carry them with you wherever you want. When there is a need, soak in verjuice or vinegar or must. This differs little in nature from those above.
From Martino da Como, The Art of Cooking
Take the charlock and crush as above, and take some raisins that have been well crushed; add some cinnamon and a few cloves to these things. Then you can make little round balls the size of those that you shoot with a crossbow, or square pieces of whatever size you like; let them dry for a little while on a table, and once dried, you can take them from place to place, as you wish. When you want to use them, you can thin them with a little verjuice, or vinegar, or cooked must, that is, sodden wine.
From Cuoco Napoletano
Get mustard seed, when it has steeped a day, grind it up with a handful of raisins, cloves, cinnamon and a little pepper, and with this paste form balls, small or large as a walnut; then set to dry on a board; when dry, you can take them when you go riding; to distemper them, use verjuice or must or wine or vinegar.
By Platina
Grind in mortar or mill, either separately or all together, mustard, raisins, sandalwood, toasted bits of bread, and a little cinnamon. When it is ground, soak with verjuice or vinegar and a bit of must, and pass through a sieve into serving dishes. This heats less than the one above and stimulates thirst but does not nourish badly.
From Martino of Como, The Art of Cooking
Take the charlock (wild mustard, Sinapis arvensis*) and crush well; and take some raisins and crush them also, as well as you can. Take a bit of toasted bread and a little sandalwood extract and some, cinnamon, and a little verjuice or vinegar, and sodden wine, and thin this mixture; and pass through a stamine.
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