Finnish Mustard for Christmas

Meira makes the mustard I would really like to have for Christmas, or anytime really, but our supply has run out.  When we visit Finland, we bring it back in our suitcases.  We tape the tops with duct tape, and haven't had one leak yet.  It is a smooth mild mustard with a sweet flavor.  Not as sweet and much darker than the honey mustard we get here in the U.S., usually as a salad dressing.  

Ikea's Swedish Druvan mustard is similar and will have to do until our next visit to the grandparents.  The hodgepodge of candles in the background are some my daughter brought out last night for her Santa Lucia "festival."  My husband's cousin and godmother painted the lovely lavender holders with gold inside.  The round glass ones I picked up at Tiimari in Finland in the early '90s, and the star shaped one is from Iitala glass.

Today I am going to make homemade mustard from a recipe I found at Maku ("Taste" in Finnish) called "Grandpa's Christmas mustard."  I don't expect it to be anything like Meiran Sinappi, but am interested to see how it turns out.

Here is the translated and converted recipe:

1/2 cup Coleman's dry mustard
1/2 cup sugar
2 1/2 Tablespoons potato starch (I often substitute corn starch for potato starch, but today I happen to have potato starch in the cabinet)
1/2 cup cream
1-4 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar

Mix the dry ingredients together and sift into a heavy bottomed kettle.  Add the cream and mix well.  Heat over a medium heat, stirring and scraping the bottom constantly until it starts to bubble and thicken.  Take the pan off the heat and add at least a Tablespoon of vinegar.  You can add more if you like, the vinegar makes the mustard more sour and a thinner consistency.  Put the mustard in a bottle while warm.  Keep in the mustard in the refrigerator.  Warning:  Do not let the sauce boil because the potato (or corn) starch will thicken and become like glue!

The recipe also says to experiment and add a little cognac or whiskey.

So now I am off to the store to buy the dry mustard.  I need to plan ahead a little better!

I wish I could get some Finnish sausages to go with the mustard, the joke in Finland is that sausages are the Finnish national vegetable.  We will probably eat our mustard with cold smoked salmon for Christmas Eve.