Mustard is one of the most popular condiments in the United States, enjoyed on sandwiches, burgers and hot dogs as well as in salad dressings, sauces and elsewhere — in the Italian condiment mostarda it is even paired with sweetened fruit. It’s tangy and sharp, sometimes sweetened (often with honey) and, increasingly, spicy.
Whether it’s a German-style spicy brown mustard or a fiery Chinese condiment, hot mustard has been surging on menus over the past several years, just as hot honey has. But whereas hot honey is made by adding chiles to honey, mustard has its own heat-producing compounds that are tempered with other ingredients in many Western preparations.
Market research firm Datassential reports that it can be found on 1.3% of U.S. menus, an increase of 34% over the past four years.
Click through the gallery to learn more about this Flavor of the Week and see how one restaurant is using hot mustard on its menu.