Hello Food Lovers, Who doesn’t love a homemade gourmet gift?  And you know who has time to home-make gourmet gifts?  Posh people that’s who! And, as we know posh people like to eat flowers, this is not just plain old homemade mustard, this is sparkling wine and lavender mustard!  Very posh indeed. And so easy to make!  The recipe for this comes from the  xxx edition of that bastion of posh food,  xxxxxx.  So why not get your retro gifting on and make some for your friends this year? T

As well as lavender buds and sparkling wine, this mustard has a heap of herbs in it which makes it quite green.  The lavender is not overbearing, in fact the mustard packs quite a strong mustardy punch rather than some old fusty thing you would find in your nana’s cupboard.  It goes perfectly with ham or other meats on your Christmas table or in sandwiches with leftovers.  I have also stirred a spoonful of it into mayonnaise and then used this mix as the dressing for a potato salad. It would also be great in a Beef with Lavender Mustard or in an Elsa Greer Roast Beef Sandwich.  You could even put some of your leftover Beef in Lavender Mustard into your Elsa Greer Sandwich!  🤯

Sparkling Lavender Mustard – The Recipe

Variations

You could also experiment with the herbs used in this  – a  handful of tarragon would be lovely.  Or, if you are not a lover of sparkling wine you could use white wine as suggested by the actual recipe.

For me though, a little glass of sparkling as I made this was a perfect way to kick off the Christmas vibe! 

A quick note on making the mustard. I found that my little food processor shown above, did not process the mustard seeds as much as I wanted them to be processed, so I took the mixture out and bashed it about a bit in a mortar and pestle until I got it to the consistency I wanted.  This likely would have been easier to do before putting the seeds into the food processor.  Also, bear in mind that the more you bash the seeds about, the more pungent your resulting mustard will be. The photo below shows the difference in texture between the two.

Gifting your Sparkling Lavender Mustard

The mustard will keep for at least 6 months if kept in the fridge after opening.  I would suggest making it about a month before you want to gift it to allow the flavours to all settle down and meld together.  If you want to decorate the jar as  I have done, you need to cut some circles of cloth about 2.5cm larger in diameter than your jar.  I tend to save little jars during the year so I have a ready supply of these.  Make sure that you sterilise your jars – I do mine in the dishwasher.  I then popped a little dab of glue onto the jar lid and place the cloth circle over the lid.

Fill your jar with mustard and close the jar.  Wrap with some kitchen twine or raffia.  Add a sticker if you wish, telling people what is inside.  If you have fresh lavender flowers, your can also add a few of these.  I just tucked mine under the string.

And voila, a perfect little gourmet treat as a hostess or other gift!

You can of course, also keep this for yourself.

Have a great week!