Maybe you remember the first time you felt like an almost-grown-up, and declared, "Yes, I would like mustard on my sandwich," after insisting for years that the spicy, yellow stuff could only contaminate food. After a few mustard-enhanced sandwiches, you switched to insisting that a sandwich wasn't a sandwich without mustard. If this sounds at all familiar, you are one of the many who make mustard the condiment of choice with a squeeze of a plastic yellow bottle.

Mustard was consumed with breakfast and dinner by 13th-century Parisians, according to French writer, Alexandre Dumas, who thrilled Europe with his tales of the Three Musketeers. He found mustard just as delightful a subject—especially when paid by a mustard company. Dumas wrote of street vendors who "would run through the streets of Paris, crying "Mustard sauce!" Anyone who was disinclined to eat his meat without sauce would open his window or door and summon the vendor, whereupon he would be served at once."

The diner used mustard to enhance, if not completely hide, the tasteless and likely tough meat he or she was eating. It was a use that probably began in prehistory and continues in ballparks around the U.S. today. It was also typically used in the American West of the 1800s when stagecoach travelers complained that boarding house food was tasteless, except for the mustard provided in an attempt to enliven it.

Condiment mustard was also used by the ancient Greeks and Romans, who considered saucemaking an art. Legend has it that Roman legionnaires scattered mustard seeds during their conquering travels to Gaul which later became France, where mustard traditions set the standard.

Spanish priests are said to have used mustard seeds to mark their travels along the coast of California in the 1700s. The bright yellow mustard flowers showed the way for later missionaries, thanks to mustard's easy-growing ways.

A member of the Cruciferacae family, mustard grows wild in temperate zones around the world. It is also cultivated for its leaves, which are eaten as a vegetable, and its seeds, used as a spice. Mustard is a good early spring or fall garden crop sown directly; it tolerates poor soil and resists pests. Seed is available from most vegetable catalogues, and may be available locally. You can eat its leaves and then, after it goes to seed, harvest the brown pods. Don't let the pods split open in the garden, or you will have more mustard than you want next year.

Once you have mustard seed, you can have country-style mustard for your table. Just grind the seeds with a mortar and pestle, add enough water to make a paste and wait a few minutes for the flavor to develop. The short cut, of course, is to use ground mustard powder from the Co-op, but the secret is adding the liquid. Without liquid, mustard has no scent. The mustard oil is released only when water or another non-acidic liquid comes in contact with the seed. The liquid can come from just about anything – even the saliva in your mouth, if you were to chew a few mustard seeds. Beer works well, and grape juice, or mustum in Latin, was an early favorite that contributed to mustard's name, along with ardens, which means hot or burning.

After stirring in the liquid, wait about 10 minutes for full flavor, which lasts about an hour and a half. To prolong peak flavor, add a bit of acidic liquid, like vinegar, wine or lemon juice, and store tightly capped in the refrigerator. Cooking diminishes mustard's flavor.

When mustard is at its peak, it has a penetrating heat that is felt strongly in your sinuses. Pliny, a Roman famous for his extensive knowledge and appreciation of natural history, described mustard as "among the very first of those plants, the pungency of which mounts upward; for there is none to be found more penetrating to the brain and nostrils."

Unlike the hot flavor of pepper and chilies, mustard's heat will disappear quickly from your tongue (and sinuses), allowing you to enjoy other not-so-pungent dishes.

Now that we eat less meat, and when we have it, better meat than our ancestors enjoyed, the role of mustard has changed. Today, we are more likely to use mustard as a piquant alternative to vinegar, or to balance cloying dairy products. It is an especially good companion with cheddar cheese in sauces or sandwiches.

Either dried mustard or prepared mustard makes an excellent addition to salad dressings. In addition to flavor, mustard keeps dressings from separating and is a required ingredient in mayonnaise and Hollandaise sauce.

This mustard recipe makes one-half cup of a moderately hot mustard that is excellent with salty flavors, including pickles, cheese and meats. If you buy mustard for this recipe at the Co-op, it will cost about 65 cents. If you buy it in a prepackaged form from other stores, it can cost more than four times as much.

Honey Mustard

2 oz (or 2/3 c) dry mustard
1 T flour or cornstarch
2 T cider vinegar
1 T brandy
1 T honey

Combine the dry mustard and flour. Gradually stir in 1/4 cup cold water to make a thick paste. Let stand for 15 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients and mix thoroughly. Store tightly capped in the refrigerator.