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 115 recipes in total.

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).

The leaves are edible raw and they're actually quite interesting to eat them that way. Leaves can be gathered throughout the winter and spring from November through to May and it's only in summer when the plant is in flower that the leaves are not worth collecting. Raw, the leaves initially have a mild and slightly nutty flavour, but after a few seconds of chewing, to be replaced by a pepperiness that reaches maximum intensity after about 20 seconds. Don't try eating too much of the leaves in one go as, like mustard, it can be too intense to bear. The heat of mustard greens and their relative, wild rocket, is due to the presence of allyl isothyocyanate. This chemical is present to try and deter browsing animals from eating the plant. In fact, the leaves are full of allyl isothyocyanate and its the mechanical act of chewing that releases allyl isothyocyanate itself which is why the heat effect from the plant is delayed. Unfortunately, allyl isothyocyanate is destroyed by cooking so serving black mustard as greens only gives you the flavour of slightly bitter cabbage. One of the few ways of preserving the pepperiness in cooking is to shred the leave and include them in dumplings which are then cooked near the end of the meal.

The seeds can be collected in July and stored as a spice or even prepared into mustard. The flowers are edible and are excellent in fritters or salads, which makes black mustard almost a year-round plant for the forager. It's also one of the few sources of leafy greens during the winter months.

References:

[1]. David Evans Notes from field observations, tastings and cookery experiments.
[2]. Huxley, A. The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1999
[3]. Tanaka, T. Tanaka's Cyclopaedia of Edible Plants of the World.
[4]. Lim T.K. Edible Medicinal And Non-Medicinal Plants, Vols 1–12.
[5]. Thomas, G. S. Perennial Garden Plants, 2004
[6]. Milner, E. Trees of Britain and Ireland, 2011
[7]. Rose, F. & O'Reilly, C. The Wild Flower Key (Revised Edition) — How to identify wild plants, trees and shrubs in Britain and Ireland, 2006
[8]. Streeter, D. & Garrard, I. The Wild Flowers of the British Isles, 1983
[9]. Clapham, A.R.; Tutin, T.G. & Moore, D.M. Flora of the British Isles, 1987
[10]. Phillips, R. Mushrooms, 2006
[11]. Jordan, P. & Wheeler, S. The Complete Book of Mushrooms: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Edible Mushrooms, 2011
[12]. Bunker, F. Seaweeds of Britain and Ireland, Second Edition, 2017
[13]. Facciola, S. Cornucopia II — A Source Book of Edible Plants, 1998
[14]. Hartford, R. Edible and Medicinal Wild Plants of Britain and Ireland: A Foraging and Photographic Identification Guide
(Note that the above book links are Amazon Affiliate links)