JTA – The 16th-century Kabbalist Moshe Cordovero and the Jewish philosopher Nachmanides both compared the universe to the size of a mustard seed. The biblical commentator Rashi – who lived 100 miles from Dijon, France – believed that Abraham served tongues with mustard to three angels who had come to visit him in the 18th chapter of Genesis. .
Long before there was a Jewish deli, mustard was clearly important to Jews – but not just Jews.
“Mustard is in almost every religion and every culture,” said Barry Levenson, founder, curator and CMO (chief mustard officer) of the National Mustard Museum in Middleton, Wisconsin.
“There is a passage in the New Testament about a 1/8-inch mustard seed. There is also something in the Quran about how a mustard seed can determine your future balance. Mustard not only as a spice but also as a spice.” The context of its legends is universal.
Established in 1992, the Mustard Museum is often listed as one of the most unusual museums in the United States, typically attracting approximately 35,000 visitors a year. But last year it closed for six weeks due to COVID-19. Museum revenues and Levenson’s mental health both took a hit.
“It was devastating,” Levenson said. “We have a donation box because we do not charge for admission to the museum, so donations are completely closed. It was very tough, but we are recovering.”
To distract himself, he focused on his part-time teaching position as an assistant professor of food law at the University of Wisconsin Law School, where he has taught for seven years.
A view of some of the shelves of Barry Levenson’s Mustard Museum. (Courtesy of Levenson/via JTA)
Fortunately, the museum is recovering. Since May, it has had a steady stream of visitors, and Levenson is relieved to welcome the crowd. He describes the museum and its visitors as his “congregation”.
Levenson first began gathering mustard after his favorite baseball team, the Boston Red Sox, lost in the 1986 World Series. Frustrated, he went grocery shopping after the game and was attracted to bottles of mustard.
“It was something about mustard,” he said. “I heard one of them say, ‘Take us, and they will come.'”
Today, the non-profit museum houses approximately 6,090 mustards from more than 70 countries, as well as a gift shop and exhibits about the history of mustard. Levenson also hosts the annual Worldwide Mustard Competition, which judges seasoning in 17 categories.
Levenson loves mustard on everything, even donuts and ice cream. He suggests a sweet variety — such as cranberry and raspberry — for dessert and says that pecan-flavored mustard is delicious on ice cream.
“There are more uses than just putting it on sandwiches,” he said. “It is good in sauces and dressings. Mustard is really versatile.”
Levenson has also made up his own concoctions. His most recent experiment was mustard pudding, and he’s working up to a crme brlée.
“I’ve tried just about everything, different ingredients, flavors and spices,” he said. “I’m like a mustard mad scientist.”
But Levenson is a purist when it comes to deli sandwiches, using only brown mustard. Ten years ago, he conducted an informal survey of several New York delis to see what makes a good mustard. Some said it needed horseradish, while others preferred garlic.
In Levenson’s opinion, a really good brown mustard will have a horseradish bite because both contain the compound allyl isothiocyanate, which imparts the pungent flavor to both brown mustard seeds and horseradish root. Many delis serve both brown and yellow mustard to please different tastes.
Delicatessen originated in Germany in the 1700s as a shop that sold exotic items such as bananas, mangoes and plums. When Ashkenazi Jews immigrated to America, they brought Daly with them. Katz’s delicatessen in New York – one of the world’s most famous – is credited with being the first in America, founded in 1888.
Around that time, Delis expanded into offering lunch, creating a lunch break staple of sandwiches filled with corned beef or peppery pastrami.
Barry Levenson said, ‘It was something about mustard. ‘I heard a voice from them, gather us and they will come.’ (Courtesy of Levenson/via JTA)
Those fatty meats may not be healthy, but mustard is. It contains few calories and contains antioxidants and other beneficial nutrients, similar to broccoli and Brussels sprouts, which are members of the same plant family. It can also help with respiratory and muscle pain. In fact, runners sometimes carry a packet of yellow mustard to get relief from leg cramps.
Mustard wasn’t always on the menu for Levenson, a Worcester, Massachusetts native who was accepted into the rabbinical school but “chickened out” before attending and moving into law. Before opening the museum, he worked as an attorney for 15 years, including a stint as Assistant Attorney General for Wisconsin.
While he never became a rabbi, Levenson is active in the Jewish community and attends many synagogues. At Temple Beth El in Madison, he led the youth group and taught at its theological school.
“It’s not a huge Jewish community, but we do what we can here in Madison,” he said.
Even though he didn’t keep kosher, it was important for Levenson to carry kosher mustard, which insisted on selling dozens of kosher varieties in the museum gift shop.
There are some premium offerings, such as the Silver Spring Foods Deli-Style Mustard, which was crowned Grand Champion and won several other awards at the World-Wide Mustard Competition in 2008. This is a brand that Levenson himself uses, which is highly praised in condiments. World.
The only thing Levenson dislikes about mustard is its association with ketchup. The popular, shahi red masala is much smaller than mustard and sometimes steals its limelight.
This slight take on your favorite ingredient is blasphemy to Levenson: “You don’t hear anything about ketchup in the Torah, do you? Nothing!”