If your mustard seems a little spicier lately, you’re probably not imagining it.
Alice McFarlane writes in Farm News Now how hotter, drier conditions across the Prairies are changing Canadian mustard seeds.
If your mustard seems a little spicier lately, you’re probably not imagining it.
Researchers say hotter, drier conditions across the Prairies are changing Canadian mustard seeds — and that could be giving everything from hot dogs to salad dressings a sharper kick.
The Canadian Grain Commission has been tracking the quality of mustard seed samples from Saskatchewan and Alberta for more than 15 years. One thing researchers monitor is glucosinolate, a naturally occurring compound that gives mustard its pungent flavour.
The compound is also found in foods like horseradish, arugula and Brussels sprouts. When the plants are crushed, chewed or processed, glucosinolates break down and create the spicy taste people recognize in mustard.