One of our truly wonderful finds from this past ZestFest was meeting up with the fine folks from the Mount Horeb Mustard Museum. The Levensons (not distant relatives to us…although that would have been too cool) know mustard, and what they know is pretty damn good. This mustard was one of the ones we just had to have to bring home to our own kitchen. In the past, we’ve had those tasting experiences where what you try on the sample spoon is better tasting than whatever you end up using it with, but cracking this jar open at home and spooning it our dispelled any notion that sorta thing might happen with this mustard. From their website, the description of this mustard reads:

You’ll experience the throat-searing heat of habanero peppers along with the sinus-tingling sensation of horseradish in this great mustard that we designed ourselves. Yes, it is hot but there is so much flavor in this mustard that you won’t mind the heat at all.

First impression: At first, I thought the “grains” infused in this mustard were peppercorns, but they appear to be mustard seeds. This gives this mustard a “chunky” sort of appearance, and is thick and sticks to your spoon/fork/knife rather well. The smell is more of horseradish than habanero, but I was determined not hold that against this product. LOL!

Taste: Amazing balance between horseradish and habanero. Not too hot (probably a 4-5/10 on the heat scale), but it does build a little the more you consume. Speaking of consuming, this mustard has this “melt-in-your-mouth” quality that it adds to food that just makes you want to pile more of it on your food. For example, even though I spread it pretty thick onto a roast beef sandwich…I had to spoon out more as a dip because of how much the taste was improved with each bite. Yeah, that’s a totally subjective observation, but it is my review after all.

What foods I liked it with: In the face of the overwhelming DUH! factor, I used this on every kind of sandwich I could get my hands on…from roast beef to turkey to fried fish to grilled cheese. Adding some of this to creamy salads (potato, macaroni, etc) cranks up the flavor a notch that you’ll really like. I can only imagine what heavenly deviled eggs (isn’t that an oxymoron?) this would make, but I settled for a really yummy egg scramble that even my four year-old loved. I think I’d sneak this jar with me to my local baseball stadium just to try it on as many hot dogs as I could stomach.

Ingredients: water, vinegars (red wine, white distilled), mustard seed, honey, grated horseradish roots, white wine, salt, sugar, soybean oil, habanero peppers, gums (xanthan, cellulose), turmeric, garlic, spices, flavors (artificial, natural), citric acid, eggs, sodium benzoate, HFC syrup, annato, calcium disodium EDTA (retains product freshness), lemon juice

Overall recommendation: Throw away that crappy yellow mustard that’s been sitting in your fridge waiting for the next time you dump food that’s been in there too long, and pick up a bottle of this. In fact, pick up a case. It’s a smooth balanced horseradish & habanero taste that is surprising versatile, low in calories, and even packs a little heat. Thumbs up!