I’ve been running a little experiment this summer. As my regular readers may know, I have a bit of an addiction to wholegrain mustard. I have it most days for breakfast, thickly spread on a piece of toast with a poached egg perched on top (yes, sometimes I am a pig and have 2!)

So, my little experiment involved growing a packet of mustard seeds (you know the ones you grow on your kitchen windowsill with cress?) but growing them to full maturity, collecting the seeds and making my own jar of mustard.

So far the growing part has gone swimmingly. Quite pretty plants with dainty yellow flowers, they didn’t take up too much room in the poly tunnel (until they got a bit leggy and flopped onto the onions). They were a great bee attractant to have in the poly tunnel too.

The seed pods are hairy little blighters. I recommend wearing gloves when you handle them, otherwise you’ll be pulling microscopic prickles out of your fingers for hours to come.

When the leaves start turning brown, you pick the stems of pods and pop them upside down in a large paper bag, leaving it somewhere warm. When the pod has fully dried out, it splits open shooting out those hot little seeds.

When all have dried, separate the seeds from the waste and, well, I’m not sure yet.

Can I get back to you on the next step…?

:)