Gerard’s Receipt

‘The seeds of mustard powdered with vinegar, is an excellent sauce, good to be eaten with any gross meates, either fish or flesh, because it will help digestion, warmeth the stomach, and provoketh appetite.’

The black mustard, which is the best, grows wild in England and was most likely used as a condiment by the Saxons. It was cultivated in gardens in the 16th century, and in 1657 was cultivated in the neighbourhood of Tewkesbury, ground up and made into balls and sent to London