A Thread to Celebrate Mustard

[cesare]

Pff, enjoy your horseradish and mustard paste with green food colouring, this is wasabi:

View attachment 377034

I don't have any rhizomes on the go at the moment though. Well, I do, but it has ceased being photogenic.

I just had my wholegrain mustard and wasabi paste arrive. No issues with the grain. But just looked at the contents of the wasabi paste, just 5% wasabi, wtf! Growing wasabi, that's brilliant, go you.

 

[iona]

Pff, enjoy your horseradish and mustard paste with green food colouring, this is wasabi:

View attachment 377034

I don't have any rhizomes on the go at the moment though. Well, I do, but it has ceased being photogenic.

Oh I wonder if we could grow that up here... Got an enormous patch of really spicy mustard greens ('Green Wave' I think) to get through at the moment that taste very similar, the heat gets right up your nose in that same way wasabi does.

 

[Cid]

Oh I wonder if we could grow that up here... Got an enormous patch of really spicy mustard greens ('Green Wave' I think) to get through at the moment that taste very similar, the heat gets right up your nose in that same way wasabi does.

Hmm... winters probably get too cold, mine have weathered down to -5c with snow, don't know if they'll manage lower than that. Maybe though.

 

[iona]

Hmm... winters probably get too cold, mine have weathered down to -5c with snow, don't know if they'll manage lower than that. Maybe though.

I've not experienced an Orkney winter yet but it's supposed to be pretty mild compared to the mainland...

 

[Cid]

I just had my wholegrain mustard and wasabi paste arrive. No issues with the grain. But just looked at the contents of the wasabi paste, just 5% wasabi, wtf! Growing wasabi, that's brilliant, go you.

Suspect it will probably get more common as more farms appear. It's pretty well suited to the uk, provided you can do well-draining soil, shade in the summer and lots of irrigation... But its aromatics are highly volatile, so it's not that easy to preserve. I mean it keeps fairly well as a rhizome (couple of weeks) because it's only the freshly grated surface that oxidises, but yeah - once you've released the flavours, they are fleeting.

 

[iona]

Suspect it will probably get more common as more farms appear. It's pretty well suited to the uk, provided you can do well-draining soil, shade in the summer and lots of irrigation... But its aromatics are highly volatile, so it's not that easy to preserve. I mean it keeps fairly well as a rhizome (couple of weeks) because it's only the freshly grated surface that oxidises, but yeah - once you've released the flavours, they are fleeting.

Yeah I found the same with horseradish, tried adding it to fermented veg and it's just completely pointless (aside from nearly suffocating myself in the process of grating it )

 

[Cid]

I've not experienced an Orkney winter yet but it's supposed to be pretty mild compared to the mainland...

Yeah, looking at climate data it does actually look pretty good. I'll put some info on here when I get round to compiling it.

 

[cesare]

Yeah I found the same with horseradish, tried adding it to fermented veg and it's just completely pointless (aside from nearly suffocating myself in the process of grating it )

We bought a horseradish root/rhizome once and I nearly choked myself grating it - tears streaming and couldn't catch my breath

 

[iona]

Yeah, looking at climate data it does actually look pretty good. I'll put some info on here when I get round to compiling it.

That would be brilliant, thanks!

We bought a horseradish root/rhizome once and I nearly choked myself grating it - tears streaming and couldn't catch my breath

I know right! Felt like I was back in WW1 being gassed in the trenches

 

[cesare]

That would be brilliant, thanks!

I know right! Felt like I was back in WW1 being gassed in the trenches

Horseradish gas masquerading as mustard gas

 

[iona]

Horseradish gas masquerading as mustard gas

They're both part of the same family, Brassicaceae (not that mustard gas comes from actual mustard, I know)

 

[UnderOpenSky]

I've not experienced an Orkney winter yet but it's supposed to be pretty mild compared to the mainland...

You've got a polytunnel as well haven't you?

 

[cesare]

They're both part of the same family, Brassicaceae (not that mustard gas comes from actual mustard, I know)

I think wasabi is part of that family too?

 

[Cid]

I think wasabi is part of that family too?

Yep. Big family though.

 

[newme]

And now I have to add growing wasabi to my list of garden stuff, saw it on Clarksons farm and they seemed to imply you needed basically a stream which I only get every 3-5 years when the fields above flood. Interesting as I just got the first small poly tunnel up.

 

[klang]

Horseradish and beetroot ftw

 

[iona]

You've got a polytunnel as well haven't you?

Yes but we're never going to make any money if I take over the whole thing with my weird experimental veg

 

[klang]

UnderOpenSky
Chrain

 

[UnderOpenSky]

UnderOpenSky
Chrain

That actually sounds pretty good.

 

[Cid]

Yes but we're never going to make any money if I take over the whole thing with my weird experimental veg

Yeah, how could Orkney Wasabi ever sell somewhere like Borough market? I just can't see the potential...

 

[iona]

Yeah, how could Orkney Wasabi ever sell somewhere like Borough market? I just can't see the potential...

First I need to do well with my own little bits of test planting, THEN we can turn the whole place into a wasabi and zha cai and oca farm and get rich selling to foodie hipsters