Welcome to the summary page for FabulousFusionFood's Wild Food guide to Black Mustard along with all the Black Mustard containing recipes presented on this site, with 89 recipes in total.

This is a continuation of an entire series of pages that will, I hope, allow my visitors to better navigate this site. As well as displaying recipes by name, country and region of origin I am now planning a whole series of pages where recipes can be located by meal type and main ingredient. This page gives a listing of all the Cornish recipes added to this site.

These recipes, all contain Black Mustard as a major wild food ingredient.

Black Mustard, Brassica nigra, is an annual weed, a member of the Brassicaceae (mustard/cabbage) family that's cultivated for its seeds, which are commonly used as a spice. The plant is believed be native to the Mediterranean but has been cultivated for millennia and naturalized to the whole of Europe. The plant itself is spindly in appearance and grows from 60cm to 2.5m tall with stalked leaves that are lobed and bristly. Between June and August it bears open racemes of small yellow flowers, each with four petals.

The seed pods develop after fertilization and are pressed against the stem. It is the seeds of the plant that are collected and the spice is made from the ground seeds of the plant, with the seed coats removed. The seeds themselves are tiny, about 1mm in diameter and are very flavourful, if hard to collect. These seeds are commonly used in Indian cuisine where they are thrown into hot oil or ghee after which they pop, releasing a characteristic 'nutty' flavour. A cooking oil can also be pressed from the seeds. In Britain the seeds used to be used as a garnish for cheese dishes and were a key ingredient in lemon and mustard seed chutney.

In common with other members of the Brassica family, the leaves, young stems, flowers, seed pods and seeds (mustard) of the plant are edible. The leaves and young (green) seed pods are an excellent addition to salads (note that salad leaves such as mizuna and tatsoi are actually types of mustard).

References:

[1]. David Evans Notes from field observations, tastings and cookery experiments.
[2]. Huxley, A. The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992
[3]. Tanaka, T. Tanaka's Cyclopaedia of Edible Plants of the World.
[4]. Lim T.K. Edible Medicinal And Non-Medicinal Plants, Vols 1–8.
[5]. Thomas, G. S. Perennial Garden Plants
[6]. Milner, E. Trees of Britain and Ireland
[7]. Rose, F. & O'Reilly, C. The Wild Flower Key (Revised Edition) – How to identify wild plants, trees and shrubs in Britain and Ireland
[8]. Streeter, D. & Garrard, I. The Wild Flowers of the British Isles
[9]. Clapham, A.R.; Tutin, T.G. & Moore, D.M. Flora of the British Isles
[10]. Phillips, R. Mushrooms
[10]. Phillips, R. Mushrooms
[11]. Jordan, P. & Wheeler, S. The Complete Book of Mushrooms: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Edible Mushrooms
[12]. Bunker, F.; Brodie, J.A.; Maggs, C.A. & Bunker, A. Seaweeds of Britain and Ireland.
[13]. Facciola, S. Cornucopia — A Source Book of Edible Plants