Mustard

Mustard plants are any of several plant species in the genera Brassica and Sinapis. Mustard seed is used as a spice. Grinding and mixing the seeds with water, vinegar or other liquids, creates the yellow condiment known as mustard. The seeds can also be pressed to make mustard oil, and the edible leaves can be eaten as mustard greens.

Although some varieties of mustard plants were well-established crops in Hellenistic and Roman times, there are almost no archaeological records available for any of these crops. Wild forms of mustard and its relatives the radish and turnip can be found over west Asia and Europe, suggesting their domestication took place somewhere in that area.

Mild white mustard (Sinapis hirta) grows wild in North Africa, the Middle East and Mediterranean Europe, and has spread farther by long cultivation; oriental mustard (Brassica juncea), originally from the foothills of the Himalaya, is grown commercially in India, Canada, the UK, Denmark and the US; black mustard (Brassica nigra) is grown in Argentina, Chile, the US and some European countries. Canada and Nepal are the world's major producers of mustard seed, between them accounting for around 57% of world production in 2010.

The varieties to be found in Western Canada are True mustards (Brassica) Wintercresses (Barbea)Tansy mustards (Descurainia) and Tumble-mustards Sisybrium)

·         Mustard is edible as a cooked green

·         Boil older plants in two changes of water to reduce bitterness

·         Grows in open disturbed areas in plains, foothills and mountain regions