Putting up new mustard - Sun Dried Tomatoes or Dried from your garden!

During the end of the summer our local farm had over planted sun gold cherry tomatoes and as part of their CSA we were able to pick as many as we could pick and carry. I got about 5 maybe 10 lbs and made some into a quick sun gold sauce for chicken and the other I dried or froze. The cherry tomatoes were small but sweet with a strong tomato flavor that worked well in drying them for future recipes.

Today I decided that the Sun Dried Tomato Mustard was perfect and an easy way to use the dried cherry tomatoes. This recipe has been adapted from the Cranberry Mustard recipe and it's important if you are going to use Sun Dried tomatoes that they were never packed in oil. You can use your personal dehydrated tomatoes for this recipe as well.

The key to any of the mustard is the blend or breakdown of the seeds. You can either have a "grainy" or have some whole seeds still in the final product or spend a bit more time and blend the mixture completely smooth. As you "smooth" the seeds the taste will be less intense than if you keep some of the seeds whole. A bite into a seed will give you a small blast of good heat. Either way this mustard is delicious. 

Sun Dried Tomato Mustard

1 cup white vinegar
2/3 cup yellow mustard seeds

1 cup water
2 cups sun dried or dried tomatoes – not from oil packed
3 T. dry mustard
1/8 t. kosher salt
1 t. granulated or roasted mashed garlic

Preparation Day 1 : In a non-reactive bowl combine the vinegar and mustard seed. Cover and let sit overnight so that the seeds absorb the vinegar and soften.

Preparation Day 2: Prepare 6 quarter pint jars, lids, and rings. Sterilize the jars and keep them in the hot water till its time for processing. Make sure to fill your water bath canner and get the water to a simmer.

Blending: In a blender, bullet or food processor fitted with a metal blade, combine marinated mustard seeds with water, tomatoes, dry mustard, salt and garlic. Continue until blended and most seeds are well chopped. You can either retain a slightly grainy texture or blend it smooth.

Filling the jars: On a dishtowel place your hot jars in a semi circle leaving room for your pot that has your recipe.  Using your funnel in each jar ladle the mixture into the jars leaving 1/4" headspace. Start from the top of the semi circle and work your way to the end. Remove air bubbles and refill to the proper headspace if necessary. Remove your recipe and taking a clean papertowel wet it with warm water and wipe the rims of the jars removing any food particles that would interfere with a good seal. Using your magic wand extract the lids from the hot water and place them on the now cleaned rims. Add your rings to the tops of each of the jars and turn to seal just "finger tight".

Processing: Make sure your rack is on the bottom of the canner and place the jars in the water bath making sure that the water covers each of the jars by 1 to 2 inches. Add hot water to the canner if it doesn't measure up. Cover the pot and turn up the heat under the canner and wait for the water to start boiling. Once the water has come to a boil start your timer for 10 minutes. When complete turn off the heat and remove the cover and let the jars sit for another few minutes. Remove the jars and place them back on the dishtowel in a place that they will sit overnight to cool. Do not touch or move them till the next morning.

Sealing: Some time in the next hour your jars will be making a "pinging" or "popping" noise. That is the glass cooling and the reaction of the lids being sucked into the jar for proper sealing. Some recipes may take overnight to seal. Check your lids and reprocess any jars that did not seal.