The Mustard Museum - the Condimental Divide

(July 15, 2016) Middleton, WI

I have become enchanted with Wisconsin. Since my little girl went off to the Windy City to attend College a generation ago, I have routinely raced across the Badger State looking at the beautiful scenery at seventy five miles an hour; rarely stopping for more than a sandwich, milk shake, to fill up the car, or buy a lottery ticket. Fall’s changing colors in the Mississippi River valley near La Crosse are gorgeous at high speed and are always a marvel.

Over the generation on the many trips to see my daughter and family I did slow down for stops at Circus World Museum in Baraboo, Wisconsin Dells, Grandparents University at University of Wisconsin in Madison, and Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin Estate, home, and studio in Spring Green.

On this mini–vaca Susan and I stopped for dinner and overnight in Wisconsin’s Capital City, Madison. We had a pub dinner at Great Dane Brew Pub starting with Wisconsin cheese curds; Susan had the Chicken Pot Pie (she reports “not very good”) and I had the Smothered and Covered Fried Chicken (wonderful, yummy, and too much!) The menu described the Fried Chicken as: hand breaded fried chicken breast cutlets topped with shrimp, Andouille sausage, artichoke hearts, mushrooms, and tomatoes, in a Cajun butter sauce. Served with jalapeno cheddar mashed potatoes and market vegetables (broccoli and cauliflower).

In the morning we headed out to the National Mustard Museum in Middleton. Middleton is a suburb of Madison perhaps twenty minutes from downtown Madison, the State Capitol and the Goliath University of Wisconsin. 

The founder and curator of the museum is Barry Levenson who wanted to assemble the world’s largest collection of mustard. My Grandma Rosenthal’s maiden name was Levenson; maybe we are cousins?

We arrived at about 10:00am, the museum’s opening time and parked right across the street. The Mustard Museum is unique, informative, whimsical, and tourist trap combined. Inevitably all museum exhibits end in the gift shop, not exactly at the NMM. You walk in the front door and you are in the museum shop (there is no admission). The entire first floor is shop and mustard tasting station. Surprisingly the enterprise must be profitable, there were five or six employee/docents working the institution.

Down the stairs and into the basement I descended to see the exhibits and learn about the mustard seed and its progenies. There was several exhibit panels explaining the planting, growing, harvesting, and processing of the mustard seed. The exhibits are very neat, well organized and well presented. Canada is the world’s number one producer of mustard.

I learned Mustard is referenced in the New Testament, Book of Matthew 13:31-32

The Parables of the Mustard Seed and the Yeast

31 He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. 32 Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches.”

I particularly liked learning mustard’s spicy cousin is the horseradish. I am not sure I understand the nuances or biology of a root versus a seed but I’ll take their word for it.

Besides a small makeshift theatre that presented mustard videos, there was an extensive collection of prepared mustards (almost 600 products). There was a collection of mustards from each state and many many foreign countries. One of the more interesting collections were the mustard pots or serving pieces that are filled with the mostly yellow condiment and placed on the dining room table. Many were sterling silver or porcelain not glass or plastic.

A factoid I enjoyed was reading about the merger of the mustard preparation businesses of Maurice Grey and Auguste Poupon in Dijon, France in the 19^th century. Who knew?

After about an hour of perusing the museum, I went to the mustard tasting station to sample mustards and make a purchase to give the museum some token financial support. I was asked what my preference was and I said, “I like spicy, I’m a Texan.” The mustard maven said, “You’re in Wisconsin.” Defensively I replied to give me something “spicy” and is the best for bratwurst. After several spoonfuls of mustard I settled on Kelly’s Gourmet Stoneground Mustard with a horseradish bite. It is really good on brats but now I wish I would have looked for something for those fried salami sandwiches. (Maybe on my next trip?)

The Museum was very touristy; an interesting enterprise on several levels and it did cut the mustard.

I liked it.