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From Mesopotamia to Hot Dogs: A History of Mustard · Ridiculous History

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  Speaker 1: Ridiculous History is a production of I Heart Radio. Ye
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  Speaker 1: welcome back to the show, Ridiculous Historians. Thank you, as
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: always so much for tuning in. Let's hear it for
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  Speaker 1: our one and only super producer, Mr Max Williams. Here,
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: Mr Max Willie ums like h rhymes. He comes with yums.
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  Speaker 1: There I did. Now. Now, Max, you're a hero in
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  Speaker 1: my book because people can also find you on stuff
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  Speaker 1: to blow your mind. That's right, always always be closing.
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: Max is the sort of producer to who can really
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  Speaker 1: cut the mustard and who's better? I hate that expression
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  Speaker 1: so much so who better to join us on our
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  Speaker 1: continuing journey into the history of condiments? Uh? No, I
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  Speaker 1: didn't want to any want to step on you while
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  Speaker 1: you're talking there, man, Um, you're you're noal, I'm Ben
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  Speaker 1: and you you don't dig the phrase cut the mustard? Well,
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  Speaker 1: first of all, I find it perplexing. Um mustard is
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  Speaker 1: not something one typically cuts. Also, I just it makes
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  Speaker 1: me think of like a euphemism for farting for some reason.
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  Speaker 1: I don't know why. Uh, And it's just the yeah
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  Speaker 1: sure right now one not only will care for either,
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  Speaker 1: but cut the mustard to me is it's inexplicable use
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  Speaker 1: one spreads mustard if that and that's only the fancy
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  Speaker 1: kind that comes in a jar. I just don't know
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  Speaker 1: win someone would have an occasion to cut mustard, or
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  Speaker 1: maybe the mustards too bitters. They need to cut it
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  Speaker 1: with something to make it taste better. I don't know.
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  Speaker 1: That's if they're they're talking actually about the mustard plants.
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  Speaker 1: The property for the condiment is prepared mustard. Uh. That's
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  Speaker 1: it's so weird because when they're I I agree, it
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  Speaker 1: doesn't make a ton of sense. Uh here in two
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  Speaker 1: in this language. But back when it was one of
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  Speaker 1: the main crops in the United Kingdom, I want to
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  Speaker 1: say East Anglia. They cut it the way you would
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  Speaker 1: cut corn with sides. There's Naudio shows nobody to see
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  Speaker 1: if I'm doing a pretty good sife cutting impersonation. The
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  Speaker 1: most sinister of farming equipment, the scythe yeah yeah, and
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  Speaker 1: you know, before we get started, do you guys, where
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  Speaker 1: are you at on on mustard? The frieze cut the
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  Speaker 1: mustard aside mustard as a condiment, massive fan massive, even
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  Speaker 1: the yellow mustard like the French mustard. Sure, why not?
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  Speaker 1: I mean, yeah, it has its place I like it
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  Speaker 1: on a French fry or just on a basic burger.
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  Speaker 1: You know, a lot of like the smash burgers, they'll
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  Speaker 1: actually cook it with yellow mustard like on top, and
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  Speaker 1: I think that's absolutely chef's kiss. Yeah, I mean, mustard
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  Speaker 1: is like pizza. Even when it's it's still pretty darn good.
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  Speaker 1: I see, Okay, Now, I enjoy a lot of different
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  Speaker 1: kinds of mustard. Will see, there are many varieties, But
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  Speaker 1: I've never been a yellow mustard fan, which is part
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  Speaker 1: of why our ad deal with French yellow mustard fell through.
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  Speaker 1: You guys are right. I shouldn't have cursed as often
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  Speaker 1: in that meeting, you know, maybe just maybe just a
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  Speaker 1: light Pg. Thirteen. Approach to Disagreements. Yeah, too many fs
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  Speaker 1: and Jeff's quite a few, and in the room. I
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  Speaker 1: understand that mustard is is is a divisive subject. I
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  Speaker 1: remember being a kid and despising the stuff. I think
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  Speaker 1: as we grow up, our our our tasting equipment either
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  Speaker 1: gets a little duller as it also is getting more discerning,
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  Speaker 1: so we like funky or stuff. That's my theory. Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: that's part of it, I would say, also, because taste
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  Speaker 1: is so tied up in other senses, Uh. And because
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  Speaker 1: taste is tied tied strongly to memory. That's why smells
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  Speaker 1: bring back memories best. Uh. I think a lot of
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  Speaker 1: times humans, as they grow and spend more time in
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  Speaker 1: the world, they end up having these associations that change
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  Speaker 1: the way they encounter food that would ordinarily gross everybody
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  Speaker 1: else out. I'm looking at you, parts of Scandinavian cuisine. Uh,
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  Speaker 1: thank you, Max. So yeah, we're doing We're doing the
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  Speaker 1: mustard episode part two, and uh, we may be adding
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  Speaker 1: to the problem when you're talking about divisiveness, because mustard
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  Speaker 1: is definitely a number two condiment in the United States
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  Speaker 1: and many parts of the world outside Chicago hot dogs.
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  Speaker 1: You know, it's like catch up first, or a fish
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  Speaker 1: sauce or mustard. Yeah, I mean I think I don't.
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  Speaker 1: I don't think we necessarily slammed catch up in our
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  Speaker 1: catchup episode. Uh. And I do think it has a place. Uh.
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  Speaker 1: You know, it hasn't had as a reason to exist.
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  Speaker 1: But to me, it's just kind of it's the most
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  Speaker 1: basic condiment of all time. And I'd love to try
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  Speaker 1: some of these uh more bespoke catchups that you mentioned, Ben,
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  Speaker 1: But mustard, to me, it's just a smart gus bark
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  Speaker 1: of of of possibilities and flavor choices. You know, you've
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  Speaker 1: got your stone ground, you got your beer mustard, you
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  Speaker 1: got your dijon, and you got your honey dijon. I
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  Speaker 1: means it's just you know, it's it's it's a no
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  Speaker 1: contest for me. It's just an absolute culinary delight. You
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  Speaker 1: can use it, you know, coda, roast in it, you know, um,
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  Speaker 1: so many things to do with mustard. It just really
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  Speaker 1: is a fabulous ingredient. And con I think it. I
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  Speaker 1: think it. It exceeds the label of mere condiment. You know, yeah,
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  Speaker 1: it's definitely an ingredient. I I've got some great seafood
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  Speaker 1: dishes in my rotation that I use mustard with. Uh,
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  Speaker 1: and ye of little faith, believe me. Just come to Atlanta.
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  Speaker 1: I'll cook one for you if you want. But the
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  Speaker 1: thing is mustard. If you you might love it, you
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  Speaker 1: might hate it, but you've tried it. According to the
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  Speaker 1: Simmons Now Consumer Survey, out of the thirty one point
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  Speaker 1: nine million people living in this country in the US,
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  Speaker 1: more than two eighty six million use mustard every single year.
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  Speaker 1: It's a big deal. Not all mustards are the same
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  Speaker 1: it's like saying, all people do this, right. Uh, there
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  Speaker 1: are varieties of mustard that are incredibly different from the
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  Speaker 1: stuff to the shelf stable stuff you will find in
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  Speaker 1: your grocery store. And I would pause it that Ketchup
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  Speaker 1: could have done the same, but it's been so homogenized.
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  Speaker 1: The thing is, um mustard story is very, very different.
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  Speaker 1: And uh, if you hate mustard, hopefully this will redeem
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  Speaker 1: the concept for you a little bit, because because where
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  Speaker 1: Ketchup is almost like describing a process with vinegar and tomatoes,
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  Speaker 1: mustard is a real thing. Mustard is a plant. It's
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  Speaker 1: several different plants. That's exactly right. Uh. Mustard is in
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  Speaker 1: fact much more of an umbrella term than people might
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  Speaker 1: think referring to again, we've talked about, you know, all
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  Speaker 1: of the varieties of mustard, but also there are a
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  Speaker 1: variety of plants that these uh, these come from. We
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  Speaker 1: know about at least forty species of mustard plants um,
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  Speaker 1: and I think the most popular is actually one called
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  Speaker 1: black mustard or Brassica nigra, which originated in the Middle
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  Speaker 1: East and Asia minor. There's also brown Indian mustard from
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  Speaker 1: the Himalayas, known as Brassica juncia uh and white uh
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  Speaker 1: slash yellow mustard brassica hirta and that's from the Mediterranean basin. Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: and I think for a lot of people were some
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  Speaker 1: of us may have paused when we heard the phrase
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  Speaker 1: black mustard unless you're a big mustard and that might
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  Speaker 1: be a little unfamiliar. This is popular, as you said,
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  Speaker 1: nor in the Middle East and Asia minor, but you're
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  Speaker 1: not gonna see it as much in the West because
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  Speaker 1: this stuff still needs to be harvested by hands, so
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  Speaker 1: it's a little more expensive. If you look at the
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  Speaker 1: humble mustard plant, it looks kind of like, yeah, it's
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  Speaker 1: kind of like a shrub. You would think, what you know,
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  Speaker 1: very TLC. I don't want no shrubs, uh. But it's
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  Speaker 1: in the same family as broccoli, brussels sprouts, kale called
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  Speaker 1: Robbie collar green's their cousins basically, so all parts of
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  Speaker 1: the mustard plants are edible. But if you're talking about
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  Speaker 1: the condiment, which is called prepared mustard, very boy scout,
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  Speaker 1: then we're really talking about the seeds. Yeah, I mean,
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  Speaker 1: honestly accurate or not. The image that I have in
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  Speaker 1: my mind is sort of the harvesting of poppies to
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  Speaker 1: make you know, drugs on their own, not much you
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  Speaker 1: can do with it. But when a process correctly or
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  Speaker 1: like coca, you know, um that it requires that that
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  Speaker 1: extra step to get it to the to the desired
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  Speaker 1: end result. No, this is a family show, but I
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  Speaker 1: gotta say, I'm just so fascinated by the anonymous people
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  Speaker 1: throughout history who figured out very specific preparations of vegetables,
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  Speaker 1: like how many people died over the over the poppies
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  Speaker 1: until someone said, let's put it on a bagel. You know,
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  Speaker 1: how did they meet the bagel guy uh or bagel person?
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  Speaker 1: I think I can't remember the exact quote, but I
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  Speaker 1: think it's n as Hemingway who said very brave was
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  Speaker 1: the man who first ate an oyster? Yes, yeah, and
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  Speaker 1: very very brave are people who go foraging for wild mushrooms.
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  Speaker 1: Do not do so unless you have an expert with you. Yeah, exactly,
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  Speaker 1: don't just watch you do video. But there is a
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  Speaker 1: really cool mushroom guy. I think his name is like
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  Speaker 1: Paul Steinmetz or something like that. He's a he's in
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  Speaker 1: that documentary Fantastic Fungi. Um. But he's a great follow
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  Speaker 1: on Instagram if you're interested in foraging and just you know,
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  Speaker 1: see he doesn't just pick the ones that make your
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  Speaker 1: trip balls like he's all about it. Oh, he's an
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  Speaker 1: equal opportunity mustroom enthusiasts. But yeah, no, the process is key,
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  Speaker 1: right yeah. Yeah. You start with the seeds of the plants.
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  Speaker 1: And you know if, um, if you're one of those
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  Speaker 1: people like me who has a cartoonist spice rack, then
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  Speaker 1: you probably have mustard seeds in a little plastic container.
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  Speaker 1: Would you pound those with a mortar and pestel bend
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  Speaker 1: or what would you use those? I've actually don't have
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  Speaker 1: mustard seeds. Yeah, I'll I typically will will pound them
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  Speaker 1: to create a powder form. It's it doesn't have that
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  Speaker 1: that very specific pungent nature until the seeds are cracked
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  Speaker 1: and mixed with some sort of liquid. If you're in
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  Speaker 1: the United Kingdom, you're more likely to find mustard, right, um,
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  Speaker 1: or it's easier to find it. Also might be an
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  Speaker 1: ingredient in like a massala, a garam masala. Perhaps if
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  Speaker 1: you're making a spice blend uh and toasting it you
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  Speaker 1: know in the pan, you might you might do that
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  Speaker 1: and then if you toast them hole in the pan,
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  Speaker 1: you gotta be careful with the heat and the type
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  Speaker 1: of oil you use, but they will start to kind
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  Speaker 1: of pop and like crackle. It's really fun. Yeah yeah.
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  Speaker 1: And also you might find it in some pretentious cocktails.
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  Speaker 1: I don't know. I just imagine mixology is going crazy,
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  Speaker 1: like on the rim, right right. I call this the
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  Speaker 1: kernel mustard old fashioned anyway. Uh so you can eat
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  Speaker 1: a freaking study. So you can eat the leaves mustard greens,
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  Speaker 1: those are great. You can eat some of the stems,
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  Speaker 1: just fresh. And we know, you know, mustard greens were
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  Speaker 1: based in the south of the US, so we know
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  Speaker 1: that mustard greens are in ham for in soups and
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  Speaker 1: stews and smil collards. But yeah, they don't taste mustard
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  Speaker 1: e though I wouldn't say right not not no, No,
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  Speaker 1: they have a they have a little bit of a bite,
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  Speaker 1: but they're they're not messing with the seeds. If you
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  Speaker 1: want prepared mustard the condiment, you want the seeds. You
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  Speaker 1: can also make an oil out of the seeds, mustard oil,
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  Speaker 1: which I've never done, which is a big ingredient in mustardo.
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  Speaker 1: The most infamous condiment here on ridiculous history, and that's
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  Speaker 1: the one with like the weird gelatinous like fruit cocktails,
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  Speaker 1: stuff in it kind of very unappealing. You guys, ever
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  Speaker 1: seen something that gets so moldy it starts turning into
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  Speaker 1: like goo. That's what Masta looks like. Yeah, it's not cute.
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  Speaker 1: It's that gross slime film that's see through. It's m
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  Speaker 1: O S T A R d as um. Yeah, candy
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  Speaker 1: fruit and a mustard flavored syrup. So you know, go
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  Speaker 1: your own way, Italy, but I I would probably try
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  Speaker 1: it at some point. So no, we know this thing
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  Speaker 1: has been around. It grows wild, right, Uh, it's not
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  Speaker 1: a pain to find this stuff. So how long have
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  Speaker 1: people have been messing with mustard? It's a good question.
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  Speaker 1: Then it really does go back back back into antiquity. Um,
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  Speaker 1: it's it's again relatively easy to harvest. Mustard seeds have
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  Speaker 1: been found in stone age settlements or whatever you wanna
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  Speaker 1: call them, you know, communities. I guess mustard does grow wild,
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  Speaker 1: which is a big deal. You know, people are literally
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  Speaker 1: working with what they can see, you know, above the surface.
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  Speaker 1: Don't there's don't have even the tools yet to dig
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  Speaker 1: deeper to do any kind of you know, more advanced cultivation.
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  Speaker 1: There's a lot of food. Historians believe uh that it
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  Speaker 1: was in fact first um cultivated in India around three
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  Speaker 1: thousand BC. And mustard seed is actually mentioned in in
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  Speaker 1: the Bible, um because Hebrews used mustard for cooking. In
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: Abraham Um, there's a passage where it says he served
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: cow tongue with mustard, which is actually something you could
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: still get at a delhi. You know, tongue is still
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  Speaker 1: on a thing. And Uh, he probably eat it on
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  Speaker 1: some rye bread with a nice bit of spicy brown mustard. Yep,
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  Speaker 1: yep and Uh. During the Sumar period of Mesopotamia, we
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  Speaker 1: know that Samarians would grind mustard seed into a paste
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  Speaker 1: and they would mix it with the juice of unripe grapes,
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  Speaker 1: which is very jus. Uh, this is very acidic. This
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  Speaker 1: also plays into the name of mustard as as we
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: might get to later. Uh. And this is neat because
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: historians know this about Mesopotamia. They since they entered this
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: agricultural age and they were farming mustard and creating seeds,
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  Speaker 1: it led to an economic surplus that allowed them to
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: create an urban environment. So in that case, mustard kind
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  Speaker 1: of helped make cities. Wow, who knew from such a
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: tiny seed could flow civilization. Um. And the ancient Egyptians
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  Speaker 1: seems to follow suit here. They were huge mustard heads
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  Speaker 1: as well. UM Archaeologists have found mustard seeds among you know,
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  Speaker 1: the posthumous belongings of various great kings of this era,
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  Speaker 1: including um, you know, the crowd favorite tooton Common. Yeah. Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: The Greeks also followed up. They used mustard as a spice,
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: and they also used it as a medicine ancient ut. Yeah,
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: and they had all kinds of ideas about what it
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: what it could cure, and how you would need to
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: process the mustard and apply it, right. I like poultice.
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: Poultices are so fascinating to me. I don't think a
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  Speaker 1: lot of people know about them because you don't get
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: here about them being used often. But they're so weird
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: becausal They have like grass and stuff in them. Yeah,
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: and they're just like this damp coggloberation that gets gets
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: sort of blocked on you. It's like a schmir you know,
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: for the body. It's so much worse. It's gunky, that's
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: what it is. It's medicinal gunk. But it also just
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: kind of plugs up the wounds to it. It it
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: it has something medicinal in it, but it also largely
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: is just kind of a low tech bandage, right right.
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: And I have seen poultice is applied for a number
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: of things, and I've always thought just a little squeaked out.
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: I've always thought, well, it's not me at least. Uh
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: um okay, So the biggest uh, some of the biggest
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: try hards in Mediterranean history. The Romans also emulated the
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: Greeks here, like they did with basically everything. You're not
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: fooling us guys. Uh. They they said, the Greeks use
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: mustard as food and medicine, and so do we. And
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: the Romans said it was a cure for even more stuff. Uh.
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: Do you have a snake bite gets some mustard? Got
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: bonny plague? Mustard? Up, you're hysterical, somebody get this nuts
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: so some mustard. Uh. It didn't work, by the way,
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: in either any of those three cases. But you had
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: a nice sandwich, uh, you know, on the way with
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: your plague. Absolutely he could do you know, double dip, Yeah,
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: a little flatbread. I like, maybe that's the accidental discovery.
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: Someone's like, hey, what happened to all those plague victims.
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: Well they passed away. But I have a sandwich that
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: I think is gonna blow your mind. My man, dear
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: sweet lord, this has ventured into the disgusting. I'm okay
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: with That's okay, we can we can venture in that direction.
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: You're ridiculous history from time to time. Um. But yeah,
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: so what do we We've been through the Egyptians, we've
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: got the Omens. We're about to get into more modern mustard.
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: But first, let's let's take a little trip to the
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: north of France, um, where monks were messing with mustard
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: by the ninth century, and monasteries. Mustard was actually creating
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: a pretty sizeable income stream for these monasteries. Uh. And
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: the word itself, mustard is thought to have originated from
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: the word musto or grape must which is young, unfermented
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: wine mixed with ground mustard seeds by the French monks.
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: Those crazy monks a drink just about anything. They had
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: a lot of time. They had a lot of time,
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: and it's like it's kind of like all its spicy grape. Uh,
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: p's my favorite soda flavors. Oh God, I hate grapes.
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: So to say that's more for you man. Whenever I
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: find no spicy grape, I only like soda that only
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: exists in my mind. Have you ever had muscadine wine?
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: It's very big in parts of it's super sweet, so
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: sweet and gross muscato. Have you ever accidentally thought you
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: were buying a white wine and then got at home
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: only to realize that it was muscato? Only once? Yeah,
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: never again, never again, ever again? Also undrinkable. What's that
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: other stuff? Prosecco? No thanks, I'm okay with prosecco. That
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: cute growing spugliato with prosecco in it. Well, maybe if
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: we put some mustard on the rim. Uh, so that
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: sounds put some mustard on the rim sounds like yeah, yeah,
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: mustard up the rim. Maybe. Yeah, No, we're doing that. Now.
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: That's gonna be a thing we say. We're gonna say
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: that outside of this show. We'll be like, Max really
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: puts some mustard on the rim? Here, Ben, you're gonna
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: make me beef. You keep talking that way, because we
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: were always beef and so uh prepared mustard. Yeah, you
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: nailed it, man. So um. The Romans right famously a
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: bunch of try herds. Uh. They take mustard technology and
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: their knowledge of it to northern France. The monks gets
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: super down and that's why prepared mustard, the condiment as
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: we know it, begins in Dijon, France in the century
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: and it's thanks to a pope. Now peak behind the curtain,
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: folks in the back of the kitchen where we cook
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: all these podcasts. Earlier today, Matt Noel, our good friend
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: Matt Frederick and I talked about another pope who changed
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: the world, a guy named Greg Greg. He's the reason
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: we have the current calendar. Yeah, there's another guy, Pope,
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: John twenty two of Avignon. Uh yeah, Jay Dook who
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: um yeah, old old Jacks himself. Uh. He really popularized
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: mustard and fact he remains famous in history because in
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: addition to being pope, he made up a job for
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: someone to supply him with mustard. I don't think people
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: understand pope's were at the level of a list celebrities
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: or athletes or musicians in their day. They had entourages,
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: just like how you know Snoop Dogg has a guy
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: who's in charge of snacks, the blood and a blood roller,
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: and just the blood roller, that's all he does. He
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: doesn't even get the he doesn't even get the stuff
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: that goes in the bloods. He's just the roll guy.
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: But but so believe it or not, folks, Pope John
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: twenty two, he made up a job to hire his
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: no account nephew to be the grand uh mut a
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: Moosta the mustard boy. That's a cool title. It's sort
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: of like a Somalia, I guess, but specifically for mustard. Yeah,
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: just mustard. And this gave this gave rise to uh
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: something that to an idiom, apparently a turner phrase in
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: French that I was unaware of. Have you ever heard
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: of this one man? No? No, but Max is making
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: a face and then we all know Max is a
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: is a lifelong mustard enthusiast. Have you heard of the mustardier? No?
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: I have not. Now I have something to aspire towards, though, Yeah,
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: what are we doing? Was? Can you can you be
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: a self proclaimed mustardier or is it like a certification
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: you gotta go to? And is this a position that
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: still exists today? I have so many questions. Yeah, I
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: don't think it still exists today. There are people who
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: specialize in making mustard and that's you know what they
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: do from uh wake to sleep. But I don't think
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: there is a grand mustard maker for the pope right now.
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: If there is, then we stand corrected. And dude, we
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: should hang out. We have so many questions. I heard this, Uh,
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: this came from a place called the Good Life France
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: dot com, a neat little article where wherein they say
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: there was a popular expression that translates to he thinks
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: himself the Pope's head mustard maker anytime someone is conceded,
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: and foolish French speakers tell us, if you've ever heard that,
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: what would that be secri? I don't know, man, but
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: that's sounded I was. I'm convinced. Well, I think we
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: hold on to put some mustard on the rim that
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: might be ours that's really going hard in the paint. Well, yeah,
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: people have said put some English on it, or put
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: some mustard on, put on it, put some stink on it. Yeah.
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: I love this language. Alright, fine, it's fun, it's fun time.
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: But so but but you know, but but again to
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: to my previous, uh sort of silly question about mustardier
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: being a thing, there obviously are like master like like
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: you have a master brewer. You know, you have someone
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: who's like a mustard boy, you know, or a mustard
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: experts you know. Yeah. Yeah. The the kings of France
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: had their own mustard makers, and one guy, Louis to
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: Louis the eleventh, kept his own pot of mustard because
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: he used to be in pots. It still is, right,
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: especially the fancy stuff we all know. Uh, he always
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: kept that thing on him. He had his pot of
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: mustard with him all the time so that if he
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: was visiting people or he had some royal appointment off site,
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: he didn't have to put up with inferior mustard. M
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: nobody wants inferior mustard. That's like, you know, a cheap
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: cup of coffee. Nothing worse. Guys, this damage in one.
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: In my head when Ben was reading that, I just
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: envisioned him sitting in a room by himself, eating that
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: mustard by the spoonful if it's good. And yeah, oh guys,
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: by the way, did you hear that the word of
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: the year for Websters for Oxford English Dictionary is goblin mode? Yes?
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: I did, because yeah it's I I can can I
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: can infer what it is. But I've never heard of
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: human say that before. Oh yeah, I can figure it out.
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: But why is that the word of the year, Like,
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: are you kidding? It's a weird one. But I will say, ben, this,
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: this image of you in the dark spoon feeding yourself
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: gobs of mustard is pure goblin mode for the gobs
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: at least, right Uh this, yeah, goblin mode is like
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: when you eat fistfuls of shredded cheese and your underwear
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: in the middle of the night. You're technically living your
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: best life, but you're also a slovenly heathen. You know,
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: Come on, you guys, don't don't sit here on air
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: and act like that cheese doesn't somehow taste amazing and
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: the grunge or the underwear the better than cheese, and
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: you wake up with like pieces. It's like a werewolf
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: waking up with blood on their body. What is cheese?
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: You know? The trail trail leading to the scene of
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: the crime, and the cheese cops are coming. Uh so
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: so Charlottagne, the historical Charlottagne paid monks to make his
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: own personal mustard, and this, um, this is part of
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: the reason what we're setting up is part of the
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: reason that mustard is so French. I feel like a
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: buffoon for never acknowledging that the hints were all there.
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: The clues were all there. Famous mustards have French names, dijon,
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: grey poupon, you know what I mean, and French. That's
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: such an American answer to it. They were just like,
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: I think it's is it French or is it Frenches.
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: I always thought it was French. Is well, I don't
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: mess with it. I told you guys that. Yeah. But then,
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: but then there's also French is onions, So I think
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: it is. But are they the same ones that make
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: the little a little fried onion doodles. I think so.
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: I think it's the same company. Okay, interesting, interesting, I
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: will get on it. Yes, yes, get on it. Report back.
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: It's also keep recording our show. Just do these eight things, man,
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: thank you. So this was the signs were all there.
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: Mustard in the Western world is very much associated with
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: French culture, and it became such a part of it
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: that it played a role in folklore. In the days
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: of the Middle Ages, people thought if you scatter mustard
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: seeds around your house, you ward away evil spirits. They
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: also this also goes into India because the first cultivations,
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: like you know, as you said in the Indus Valley
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: and so on. Um. I read somewhere that once upon
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: a time, people in the areas of what's now modern
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: day Germany, like women about to get married, would be
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: told to so mustard seeds into their dress so that
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: they could have dominance in the marriage. Very interesting. I
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: like how no, just because we're an audio podcast, everybody,
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: I love how I love how Nold, just like you
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: had a meaningful nod, like yeah it checks out. Yeah, no,
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: I know that. You know, sometimes the visual nod is
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: the more uh, the more thinking about reactions, and then
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: I have to wait, podcast got to say words. Yeah, yeah,
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: sometimes that is go. You know, well, okay, we've all
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: heard about English mustard on this side of the pond,
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: So how did it become an English thing? Right? Right? Yeah,
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: I mean you know, and it really is kind of
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: a English staple, you know, like the baked beam, right yeah, right.
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: The um. In thirteen nine, there's this book written by
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: a royal cook, King Richard, the Seconds Royal Cook. He
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: writes a book called the form of Kerry uh, which
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: is spelled f o r m E and curry spelled
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: c u r y. So maybe it's the form of
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: co uh. Anyways, and this guy, this cook is all
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: about mustard balls. This reminds me of stoner food. Well yes,
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: and also definitely gonna use that as a expletive standard.
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: And holy mustard balls. Yeah, there we go. Yeah, what's
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: what doth a mustard ball? Uh be? Oh gosh? Okay, yeah,
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: I don't know if I I've never tried this. I
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: don't know if if you guys would be into it.
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: Um all right, you you grind up the mustard seed,
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: but you kind of coarsely grind it mortar and pestle.
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: You mix it with flour, and then you throw cinnamon
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: in it, and you put some kind of water in there.
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: You roll it into balls and dry it up, and
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: when you need to use it in food, you pour
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: wine or vinegar on it and stirred around. Interesting. I
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: don't know how I feel about this. I'll take a
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: sausage ball, you know. Oh ye, put some mustard powder
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: in the sausage ball. I'm down. You know that's open minded.
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: I don't know. Yeah, a lot of these like Renaissance
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: type foods. Have you ever seen Heston Bloomenthals. I know
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: you're familiar with him as a as a as a chef,
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: but he makes like he's got a show for a
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: while where he would do these like medieval kind of dishes.
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: And one of them was like meat fruit, where it
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: was like fruit that looked like meat. But yeah, a
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: lot of those things from those days were odd. It
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: was a big flex. Actually, we should have, uh, Jack
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: and Miles back on, because that that's an historical weird flex.
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: If you were a member of the aristocracy or royalty,
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: you would want your chefs or your cooks they would
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: call them at that time, to make food look like
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: other food. That was apparently the big flavor. Yeah, exactly.
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: So mustard balls, we haven't tried them. I'm not a
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: cinnamon guy, so I don't know if they worked for me.
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: But tow entire towns became really known for their mustard balls. Uh.
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: Some were mixed with horse radish in the case of
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: the town of Tewkesbury. Uh. And those the mustard balls
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: from that town were even mentioned in the work of Shakespeare.
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: In part two of his play King Henry the Fourth,
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: they talk about mustard balls. It's a blink and you
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: miss it moment, but there you go. Old Billy Shakes
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: was was pretty tuned into the pop cultural stuff of
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: the time, and it's always a neat read to kind
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: of go in and see, you know, what the what
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: the what the what the regular folk in the street
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: we're into. Apparently it was mustard balls. Yeah, and you know,
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: if you've read much about William Shakespeare, there is absolutely
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: no doubt the man went goblin mode on numerous occasions. Question. Okay,
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: so that's some ancient to medieval times history, right about mustard.
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: But where do we meet all this modern mustard, all
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: this stuff we have. I don't have any mustard balls.
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: I just have regular balls cut down. Well, I don't
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: know if you end up with in goblin mode at
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: the fridge in the middle of the night, you might
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: be surprised what ends up on your balls? Here we go,
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: all right, yeah, no, let's keep it in. Don't cut
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: my balls back? Uh in the uh. In seventeen seventy seven,
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: Modern history Mustard begins. There are two guys, Maurice Gray
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: and Antoine Poop. They found a company that might sound familiar.
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: Bonus points to anybody's saying, oh, yeah, of course, a pardon,
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: pardon me, do you have any great poop? They may
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: remember that, yeah, yeah, and then of course Wayne's World.
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: They did it in the movie, right, they did the
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: bit uh very because of course there's like a good
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: old stuffy British couple in a Rolls Royce and you
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: know Wayne does the like universal sign for rolling down
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: the window of a Rolls Royce. Uh. Of course they
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: go speeding off gold and Age of It was like
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: the commercials like that and Mentos where people were just
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: doing wacky stuff, you know, clearly inspired by whatever the
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: product was. You know the guy where he's like he
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: accidentally sits on a bench and gets paint on his
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: suit and then he eats a Mentos and then like
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: rolls around on the bench and it becomes a pinstripe
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: suit and the painter looks at him like you you scamp,
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: you really figured it out. And this is so this
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: is a strange thing. It's very capitalistic. So Maurice Great
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: is a man with a vision. He has a recipe
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: for some real home run mustard and popone has money.
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: He's the money, he's the ep. So he's not the
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: most creative guy. But they they they set up shop.
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: They make a store that is still around to this
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: day in Dijon, France, and then another another mustard maker
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: enters the fray. It's spelled m A L L E
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: man Uh. Founded in seventeen in Paris. And if you're
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: in Paris in this period of time and you're anyone,
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: who's anyone, you're hanging out with the famous Libertine felt
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: ridiculous historians. He's back for an unexpected cameo. The the
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: lover's lover, the brilliant thinker, the Tony Stark of his day.
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: Benjamin Franklin. Oh, Benny Frank's. Yeah, what a lothario that
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: fellow was, but also does an absolute up start and
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: brilliant mind. But yeah, quite the cad He loved. He
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: loved a lot of things. Uh, he also loved mustard.
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: And right now a lot of historians are guessing that
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: he brought mustard to the US when he returned from
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: being ambassador to France. So he came back in seventeen
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: five eight, and he was like, guys, Frances Wild check
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: this out. Yeah, now, oh what is this delectable flavor?
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: Benjamin bat Ben Benny Franks who go full goblin mode. Oh,
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: he stayed goblin mode all time. He kind of looked
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: like a goblin little yeah, I know he was. He
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: was activated. He was fully activated, as there was on
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: l A Leakers. But so uh, this other, this other
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: mustard company is still around today. Uh mal excuse our
• 36:34
  Speaker 1: pronunciation not native French speakers, or they start in Marseilles.
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: There's this local distiller also named Antoine, and he sells
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: he's selling vinegar on the street. Okay, you know he's yeah,
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: he's not the key. This guy. Now that's the least
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: sexy product to sell on the street. Street level vinegar
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: like street level. I love it. It's like, was it
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: bespoke you know, artisanal vinegar? Unclear? Um, you know there's
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: certainly are shops like that. He was not. I don't
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: think so. Man bringing it back blast, this is a
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: pre max thing straight. Seahorse teeth max is a is
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: a euphemism for something being on the level and super
• 37:21
  Speaker 1: legit because uh teeth. Back in the day you could
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: get teeth, you know, false teeth. Man of all kinds
• 37:29
  Speaker 1: of crazy uh And I think one of them was
• 37:33
  Speaker 1: seahorse teeth. I don't know, like it was carved from seahorses.
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: I can't remember exactly, but it was definitely on the menu.
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: I think they were from the hippopotamus. Yeah, definitely, Oh
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: that's it. Sorry, seahorse was referring to the hippopotamus, not
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: in fact tiny sea horses, which likely don't have teeth,
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: and if they do, you need so many of them
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: to even make a single tooth that would fit inside
• 37:59
  Speaker 1: a human. But like, I think we like it because
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: the image of seahorse teeth is adorable. Yeah, and the
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: I it's like the straight poop, as they say in
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: the Midwest, Give me the straight Seahorse team. Oh man,
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: that was a fun episode. Maybe we make that a
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: classic episode, So I think so too. Yeah, I missed
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: that was early, those early days. And so this guy's
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: pedaling street level vinegar not the best, you know, position
• 38:27
  Speaker 1: in the social hierarchy of the time. Along comes a
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: plague in sevente like you do, and uh, sales increase
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: for antoine because people are so desperate to protect themselves
• 38:42
  Speaker 1: that they say, hey, if we spray ourselves with this
• 38:47
  Speaker 1: street peddler's vinegar, maybe we will be safe from the plague.
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: And uh, he gets really popular. He gets so successful
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: that he's able to move off the streets and into
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: a real shop and uh, yeah, yeah, you know, I mean, like,
• 39:02
  Speaker 1: we know, vinegar certainly does stuff, but plague cure all
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: it is not so in this case, it would be
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: a bit of a snake oil situation. Yeah, just so. Yeah,
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: and so he uh so he starts selling his vinegar
• 39:17
  Speaker 1: in a respectable storefront, and then he also starts selling
• 39:22
  Speaker 1: mustard and he gets crazy famous French kings like Louist
• 39:27
  Speaker 1: love him royalty around the world. You can still buy
• 39:31
  Speaker 1: this mustard today. It's a worldwide brand. Across the pond,
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: there's another place, or across the channel, I should say.
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: England's Keen and Sons is founded the same year, but
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: they're still not the biggest mustard maker in England, not
• 39:51
  Speaker 1: for that guy doesn't come around for another fifty years.
• 39:54
  Speaker 1: A fellow by the name of Jeremiah Coleman, who was
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: a miller. Uh, he decided to go, as you like
• 40:02
  Speaker 1: to say, Ben Tento's down on mustard. Uh And he
• 40:06
  Speaker 1: started himself a mustard business, the Coleman's Mustard of England
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: Company in eighteen fourteen. And maybe less so here, certainly
• 40:17
  Speaker 1: one that I've heard of, but I think it's really
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: a household name. Uh. And in the UK. Yeah, yeah,
• 40:24
  Speaker 1: Coleman's mustard. Uh. In eighteen fourteen. He makes this stuff,
• 40:28
  Speaker 1: and it makes sense because he's a miller, right, so
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: he already has one of the main parts of the
• 40:33
  Speaker 1: mustard making process, salt, which is grinding those seats. He's
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: got a mill, it makes sense, uh, And he figures
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: out how to grind mustard seeds into this powder without
• 40:45
  Speaker 1: creating heat. You don't want heat because the heat will
• 40:49
  Speaker 1: evaporate the oil and take away that mustardy flavor. So
• 40:53
  Speaker 1: he gets really uh, he gets really popular for this.
• 40:57
  Speaker 1: Queen Victoria gets word and he is a pointed the
• 41:01
  Speaker 1: official mustard maker to Queen Victoria in eighteen sixty six.
• 41:07
  Speaker 1: And then we see if we go back to France,
• 41:11
  Speaker 1: mustard is still very much a French thing. They're blowing up.
• 41:16
  Speaker 1: They're blowing up in Burgundy, in particular because of charcoal,
• 41:22
  Speaker 1: which is not something you think of with mustard. You're
• 41:24
  Speaker 1: never gonna find charcoal flavored mustard, hopefully until World War Two.
• 41:29
  Speaker 1: A bunch of the wilderness in Burgundy was used to
• 41:33
  Speaker 1: grow mustard seeds. They were planning these areas where the
• 41:37
  Speaker 1: wildlands have been cleared for charcoal, and charcoal ashes are
• 41:44
  Speaker 1: a great are great for growing mustard sea for soil,
• 41:48
  Speaker 1: that's yeah. And it adds a nutrient rich component to
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: the soil that that is interesting. I never really would
• 41:54
  Speaker 1: have thought about that. And in my mind I'm thinking too,
• 41:57
  Speaker 1: is like, is this contributing in any way to the flavor. Maybe?
• 42:02
  Speaker 1: I don't know. So mustard had some of its ups
• 42:06
  Speaker 1: and downs as it goes through you know, geopolitics, as
• 42:12
  Speaker 1: it goes through various regimes, monarchies, and so on. It
• 42:18
  Speaker 1: does decline a little bit in the early eighteenth century
• 42:24
  Speaker 1: because people are able to get other sorts of spices
• 42:27
  Speaker 1: that they couldn't afford or find before. And the big
• 42:32
  Speaker 1: thing that happens is that De Jon becomes the number
• 42:36
  Speaker 1: one capital of mustard in eighteen fifty six. When this
• 42:41
  Speaker 1: guy named Jean Najon substitutes verjuice for vinegar and prepared mustard.
• 42:47
  Speaker 1: It's smooth, it's less acidic. It's still not the yellow mustard,
• 42:53
  Speaker 1: the grape stuff. Yeah, yeah, he's like spicy grape mustard.
• 42:58
  Speaker 1: Uh uh, we gotta talk about the yellow mustard. It
• 43:04
  Speaker 1: doesn't come along until a world's fair. Yeah, the Golden Age,
• 43:09
  Speaker 1: har har harror of mustard. Well, no, I actually that's earlier.
• 43:13
  Speaker 1: That's that that really is that burgundy and djena mustard
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: is typically golden. In fact, the yellow mustard I would
• 43:19
  Speaker 1: not call golden. I would call that yellow. It's just
• 43:23
  Speaker 1: bright Old McDonald's Golden arches yellow. Um, even though golden
• 43:29
  Speaker 1: is in the name of the Golden Arches, and then
• 43:30
  Speaker 1: they should just be the yellow arches. But that's neither
• 43:33
  Speaker 1: here nor there. Yeah, I know, I got your back. So, uh,
• 43:38
  Speaker 1: the yellow mustard we know today, likely I'm going to guess,
• 43:41
  Speaker 1: was not a European concoction. It was, in fact a
• 43:45
  Speaker 1: concoction of the Great State of New York uh and
• 43:48
  Speaker 1: specifically the great city of Rochester in nineteen o four,
• 43:52
  Speaker 1: And you're absolutely right in um, this was specifically debuted
• 43:57
  Speaker 1: at the World's Fair of that year as a pairing
• 44:01
  Speaker 1: with the Great American hot Dog, So they've always been combined.
• 44:08
  Speaker 1: There's a big, big list of stuff that would that
• 44:12
  Speaker 1: uh came into the zeitgeist because of that four World's Fair.
• 44:17
  Speaker 1: The hot Dog, Hamburger, iced tea, peanut butter, the Club
• 44:22
  Speaker 1: sandwich iced tea. To drink sir, if you're listening, Yeah,
• 44:26
  Speaker 1: for shot you the drink um but the and then uh,
• 44:30
  Speaker 1: this yellow mustard is one of those. And so now
• 44:33
  Speaker 1: if you look around the world, you'll see more than
• 44:35
  Speaker 1: seven million pounds mustard are consumed every single year. It
• 44:41
  Speaker 1: is ever the bride's maid, never the bride. It is
• 44:45
  Speaker 1: still the second most used spice in the United States,
• 44:50
  Speaker 1: number one being pepper. Yeah, yeah, pepper. And uh, you
• 44:55
  Speaker 1: know there's certain people that um peppers do spicy for
• 45:00
  Speaker 1: and those same people probably aren't aren't super into mustard.
• 45:03
  Speaker 1: I would, I would, I would conjecture that, yeah, they
• 45:06
  Speaker 1: might be those folks who are called super tasters. Have
• 45:09
  Speaker 1: you ever heard of those? I have that that's actually
• 45:11
  Speaker 1: a test you can take, I think where there's like
• 45:14
  Speaker 1: a strip that you put in your mouth and if
• 45:16
  Speaker 1: it tastes sweat, sour or something, then you're a super taster. Yeah,
• 45:20
  Speaker 1: they're they're more sensitive. They're sweet and salty and mommy stuff,
• 45:25
  Speaker 1: but their main thing is they're very sensitive to bitter taste.
• 45:29
  Speaker 1: So they're not gonna like tamarinds or something like that.
• 45:32
  Speaker 1: But here we we've we've gone. You know. It's it's
• 45:37
  Speaker 1: weird because before we're getting ready to record, I was saying, guys,
• 45:42
  Speaker 1: we'll punch you today. This is definitely gonna be really quick,
• 45:45
  Speaker 1: one and done. And here we are, Noel, it's almost
• 45:49
  Speaker 1: an hour. What do you say we call it a
• 45:51
  Speaker 1: We call it a day and get get something tonsch
• 45:55
  Speaker 1: on Max. So yeah, dip it, slather it. Yeah, I
• 46:00
  Speaker 1: do have something. This was requested earlier, so I have
• 46:02
  Speaker 1: it for you. Yes. Frenches is an American brand of
• 46:05
  Speaker 1: prepared mustard condiments, fried onions, and other food items that
• 46:09
  Speaker 1: was created by Robert Timothy French. So it is a
• 46:12
  Speaker 1: guy's name, not from France nominative determinism. I'm calling it
• 46:16
  Speaker 1: ding ding. It even says at the top of the
• 46:19
  Speaker 1: Wikipedia page French is mustard. Redirects here not to be
• 46:23
  Speaker 1: confused with French mustard. Just for you. Oh, it's been
• 46:39
  Speaker 1: a problem, we've stumbled into a controversy. Uh. Well with that, then,
• 46:45
  Speaker 1: I think we we passed the torch or the yellow
• 46:48
  Speaker 1: container of ballpark mustard to our fellow ridiculous historians. There's
• 46:53
  Speaker 1: so many things we didn't get to about how runners
• 46:56
  Speaker 1: long term, long distance like marathon runners, believe in e
• 47:00
  Speaker 1: mustard packets. Uh there's a mustard for luck. No, No,
• 47:04
  Speaker 1: they like it. It gives them energy, right. Uh, they
• 47:09
  Speaker 1: swear by it and other Yeah, we haven't talked about
• 47:16
  Speaker 1: uh you know National Mustard Day or mustard museums. We
• 47:19
  Speaker 1: can save that for another day. Because this is starting
• 47:22
  Speaker 1: to give me make me a Mike peckish. I might
• 47:25
  Speaker 1: have to go get a hot dog and uh Dijon
• 47:28
  Speaker 1: mustard on hot dog or maybe like a a stone
• 47:31
  Speaker 1: ground kind of grainy mustard. I need to re up
• 47:35
  Speaker 1: my mustard stores. I'm I'm, I'm I was actually you know,
• 47:38
  Speaker 1: I actually had a broad worst for lunch today. We'll
• 47:41
  Speaker 1: put some Golden's brown on it. Oh yeah, I was
• 47:45
  Speaker 1: down to the squirty bits, you know what I mean?
• 47:48
  Speaker 1: Oh yeah, where it's partially the juice juice. So we
• 47:54
  Speaker 1: hope that you are having a wonderful December. Everybody will
• 47:58
  Speaker 1: be back with Morris soon. Heads up or heads off.
• 48:03
  Speaker 1: We're gonna talk about the royal deaths in the meantime.
• 48:06
  Speaker 1: Thanks as always to our super producer Mr Max Williams
• 48:09
  Speaker 1: and his brother Alex Williams, who composed this slapping Bob
• 48:13
  Speaker 1: Christopher A Sciotas here in spirit he was Jeff co
• 48:16
  Speaker 1: wandering the world, the wide world of sports and adventures
• 48:20
  Speaker 1: and all of that good stuff and Jonathan Strickland, the
• 48:23
  Speaker 1: quister who's visage will soon be darkening our collective doorstep.
• 48:29
  Speaker 1: And thanks also to let's see who else. So thanks
• 48:33
  Speaker 1: to our peers and colleagues over a ridiculous news, ridiculous romance,
• 48:38
  Speaker 1: and of course ridiculous crimes. It's a crime. You might
• 48:42
  Speaker 1: say that we haven't had them back on the show.
• 48:46
  Speaker 1: I think that's a crime that we can neither solve
• 48:49
  Speaker 1: or make rights, like like a superhero or something. But
• 48:53
  Speaker 1: also a few final thanks thanks to mean Mr Mustard,
• 48:57
  Speaker 1: Colonel Mustard, any other mustard characters of notes. Oh gosh,
• 49:03
  Speaker 1: yeah I had Oh oh there's um yes, yes, uh
• 49:07
  Speaker 1: there's the mustard mean Mr Mustard. We mentioned that already,
• 49:13
  Speaker 1: right uh. And then there's all the mustard colored clothes
• 49:18
  Speaker 1: in the Harry Potter books. Shout out to Canada. They
• 49:22
  Speaker 1: make a ton of mustard for export. There's a ska
• 49:25
  Speaker 1: band called Mustard Plug. You remember Mustard Plug. Mustard Man,
• 49:30
  Speaker 1: I begin so into weird international ska. Well it's not,
• 49:34
  Speaker 1: it's weird to me. They just call it scat in
• 49:36
  Speaker 1: you know, Russia or Japan or wherever. Well, hey, Ben,
• 49:40
  Speaker 1: thanks to you, Thanks to you, sir, We'll see you
• 49:43
  Speaker 1: next time Foix. For more podcasts for My Heart Radio,
• 49:52
  Speaker 1: visit the I heart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever
• 49:55
  Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows.