France's Coveted Condiment | Why Laws Were Made For Dijon Mustard

Welcome to the Bright Trip channel. I'm Camille. Bon appétit

Today we are diving into France's most coveted condiment, Dijon mustard. We'll discover how it came to be and even more interestingly, why this mustard was protected by law

Who knew a condiment could be prone to a lawsuit? But wait, there's more. We're going to also make Dijon at home

I've never made mustard before, but as Chef Julia Child once said..

You just have to have the courage of your convictions. Here we go

If you've tasted Dijon mustard, you might describe it as a more robust mustard with a little kick to it

Are some of those imported Dijon mustards a little too hot for you

The key visual factor that distinguishes Dijon from regular mustard is the color

While regular mustard is a bright yellow, Dijon has more of a pale tone

Oh, Jerry, you got no mustard, huh? It's on the door. this yellow stuff? No, I said mustard, Jerry. Dijon. Another key difference is the liquid. While yellow

mustard uses vinegar, Dijon uses either white wine, white wine vinegar, or a more mild and traditional

option, verjoux, which is the juice of unripe grapes. In fact, we better start soaking our mustard seeds

Let's get into it. All right, here's what you need to make your very own Dijon mustard. I will be

following along to a recipe from the Cooking Canuck. First, let's talk mustard seeds. Dijon mustard

uses black or brown mustard seeds. These are a lot spicier than yellow or white mustard seeds

which are used for regular mustard. So we're going to be doing a combination today. You will need

three tablespoons of yellow mustard seeds and three tablespoons of black mustard seeds. After

reading some recipes, I've come to the conclusion that you can kind of choose your own ratio

depending on the heat you want for your mustard. I'm starting out by first grinding the mustard

seeds a little bit so that they will be able to better absorb the liquid. You can use whatever

is available to you a blender or a food processor So now I going to remove these from the blender and begin to mix all of the other dry ingredients So you will need a quarter teaspoon of ground mustard

quarter teaspoon of garlic powder, quarter teaspoon of onion powder, and lastly an eighth teaspoon of both salt and white pepper

My salt is stuck, please hold. We're just gonna eyeball an eighth teaspoon of salt. Now I am just going to combine all of the

dry ingredients and soon we will be adding our liquid ingredients. And similarly to the ratio

of the mustard seeds, you can also kind of experiment with the liquids as well. So I'm

going to do two tablespoons of white wine vinegar as well as four tablespoons of apple cider vinegar

you can replace up to half of the liquid with white wine, which would also be quite delicious

Okay, now that all of the ingredients are incorporated, the next step is to cover it

in plastic wrap and let it sit at room temperature for 24 to 48 hours

So in the meantime, let's talk about how Dijon mustard came to be

Buckle up, y'all. The history of mustard is actually way more interesting than you would think

We're going way back, and not just to Dijon mustard's history, but almost to the very origins of mustard seed

Some of the first recorded uses of mustard seed is in medicine and spices in ancient Egypt, followed by the Greeks and then the Romans

Mustard seed was most likely introduced in France by the Romans during the Roman Empire

The seed quickly gained traction in France for its many uses and by the 9th century

the monks of northern France were making a substantial income for their mustard making

Fast forward to the 13th century, this is when mustard making of all kinds was absolutely booming

In fact in the 14th century Pope John XXII of Avignon created an official title called the mustard maker of the Pope Imagine that being your official title So what do you do for work Oh I the uh grand mustard maker to the Pope I telling you France takes

their mustard very seriously. Now enter Dijon, the capital of the Burgundy region of France

Dijon quickly became the mustard capital of the world. And you want to know what's crazy? Mustard

Mustard of all kinds thrived in France for over four centuries before what we know as

Dijon was even invented. Four centuries! Mustard was already loved for its culinary versatility up to this point

And in 1752, Jean Néjean revolutionized mustard. While making mustard, he replaced the vinegar with verjoux, or the juice of unripe grapes

and created a creamier, less acidic flavor. And thus, Dijon mustard was born

the history so far it's no surprise that dijon took off like it did in fact let's check on our

own you may be thinking what how has it been 24 hours lucky for you i prepared this batch yesterday

now from here you can enjoy your mustard as is or you can blend it to give it a little bit of

a smoother consistency so i'm going to add it back to the food processor i like the look of

of this consistency so now I'm going to put it in the fridge for a bit, let the

flavors marry, while we talk about the standards of Dijon mustard. Would you

believe me if I told you Dijon mustard had its own laws? That's right, this

condiment is protected by law. Ketchup could never. Okay, is anyone surprised at

this point? Mustard making has actually been regulated in France since the

1300s to ensure a consistent reputation of high quality. In 1937, a law was passed to regulate the

production of Dijon mustard. It stated that Dijon must be made from black or brown mustard seed

it had to use white wine, white wine vinegar, or verjoux as the liquid, and have no added flavors

Dijon also had to be made in France otherwise it was just Dijon mustard But don worry things have lightened up and since the European Union has ruled that Dijon is a generic term for any

mustard made in the Dijon fashion. So although there are no territorial laws

on what defines Dijon mustard, it still has to be composed of the proper

ingredients. Well that was probably more information about mustard than you ever

expected to learn. And now that I think about it, it's kind of funny that Dijon

the mustard capital of the world, wasn't even a native region of mustard seeds

From medicine to mustard makers to modern day, mustard has come a long way to become the Dijon

we eat today. Maybe you'll spend a little more time reading the label of your Dijon mustard

if you don't make it at home that is. On that note I think it's time to put our Dijon to the

test. It is officially time to try our Dijon mustard. I am beyond excited. It smells divine

You don't really think about mustard until you end up in the wild curiosities of my mind like this

Bon Appetit! Oh my gosh. It's spicy

I didn't want to talk with food in my mouth, but this is amazing

And it has a lot more kick than I was expecting, but it's perfect for all of you fans of spicy mustard

I highly recommend making this at home. I mean, you have control of your own mustard

That's amazing. Thank you so much for watching. If you enjoyed this video and are looking for more educational travel content, visit BrightTrip.com

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thing to pair mustard with. I want to know. Bye