Happy to have found this thread. Hope it stays alive! I'm also looking to duplicate a french mustard, but NOT grey poupon. I have grape vines, and in my quest to find a Sicilian recipe for "Moo-stard-a" (more like Mustarda) which is a treat made from the must of grapes, I stumbled across Violet Mustard aka Moutarde Violette. This is made in France and is a closely guarded secret! WHAT!! Don't tell ME it's a secret!! I will post what I found about it. It came from a recipe in the 13th century. Well, in my quest, I found many Medieval recipes which I will post the one's I think are what I'm looking for here. I won't be able to test the recipe I will use until fall when the black wine grapes are sweetly ripe, and I get my hands on some freshly squeezed must. I'm thinking either the Cabernet or the Mouvedre will work. I use it for wine, but I can spare a quart to reduce down for a base for some delish mustard. SOME BACKGROUND on Violet Mustard..copied from discoveries on the web: And we had to ask him about his most famous product, moutarde violette. For those who don't know this product (shame -- go buy in the store now...) it is a mustard made with 50% concentrated grape juice, which gives it a distinct sweetness which balances the sharp acidity of the mustard paste. The story goes that many hundred years ago, there was a Pope (one of them) in Avignon , France , who had come from Brive in the South-West. He had missed this mustard which was traditionally made there, and asked his nephew to go there to find the recipe and reproduce the mustard. He did, and the nephew became the first official Papal Mustardier. Mr. Denoix had started development on this mustard many years ago as a part of Maison Denoix, to reproduce this historic recipe. Later when he stared Elie-Arnaud Denoix (or Domaine des Terres Rouges as the mustard is branded today), he reformulated it, and to my mind, improved its mustardyness and spiciness. He had then written a letter to the Vatican asking about the authenticity of the legend of the Papal Mustard, and got a reply stating that the Pope knew absolutely nothing about this. So much for stories. The mustard is good anyway, and we do know it was used long ago because some cookbooks have survived with recipes using it in local cooking. Violet mustard is made from red grape must (this is the freshly squeezed juice separated from the skins and stems) ground with mustard seeds (some say brown mustard seeds, some say black). It is a very pretty dark violet color, with its own distinctive flavor. It is not intended to be a cooking ingredient, but is meant to be served as a condiment with the finished dish. Violet Mustard: In the region called the Corrieze, I tasted a wonderful whole-grain black mustard, which looked like caviar. This particular mustard was an old recipe from the 14th century that somehow got lost in time, but in the past 30 years the Denoix family, who produce great walnut products, brought it back into the marketplace. The condiment is made from black grapes cooked, strained, and left to form a crust that is then mixed with mustard powder. A dollop of this heady mustard is splendid on grilled duck breast, veal chops, or black sausage. Another great use of moutarde violette is as an accompaniment to pot-au-feu and charcuterie. It also makes an extraordinary vinaigrette. Keep an opened jar in the refrigerator, and don't heat this mustard for too long because it loses its taste. Moutarde violette is a rare French mustard that uses grape must to create a purple paste. The best grain mustards should be sharp and give an immediate bite, sometimes like little jumping beans on the tongue. Ingrients : Mout de raisin rouge (50%), graines de moutarde, eau vinaigre dÂalcool, sel, épices. Translated: Must of grape red (black/purple) (50%), black mustard seeds, water spirit vinegar (distilled malt vinegar), salt, spices AND THE MEDIEVAL Recipes I think are the closest: Ancient Medieval Mustards 153. Mustard (124) MOSTAZA You must take mustard seed, and clean it of the dust and the soil and the stones, and grind it well in a mortar; and when it is ground, strain it through a cloth strainer; and then take the mustard powder and put it in a mortar with a crustless piece of bread soaked in meat broth, and grind it all together; and when it is well-ground, blend it with a little bit of lean broth without fat which is well-salted; and when it is blended in a good manner so that it is not too thin, take honey which is good, and melted on the fire, and cast it in the mortar and stir it well until it is well-mixed, and prepare dishes. Some cast a little vinegar in the broth; you can add peeled, toasted almonds, ground-up with the mustard. 154. French Mustard-- MOSTAZA FRANCESA You must take a cantaro (125) of the must of wine, either red or white, and grind a dishful of mustard that is select and very good; and after straining it through a sieve or a sifter, grind with it, if you wish: a little cinnamon, and cloves, and ginger, and cast it all, very well-mixed in the mortar, into the cantaro or jar of wine; and with a cane stir it around a long while, so that it mixes with the must; and each day you must stir it with the cane seven or eight times; and you will boil the wine with this mustard; and when the wine has finished boiling, you can eat this mustard. And when you want to take it out to cast it in the dish to eat, first stir it with the cane a little; and this is very good mustard and it will keep all year. 155. Another Very Good French Mustard Which Lasts All Year-- OTRA MOSTAZA FRANCESA MUY BUENA Y DURA TODO EL AÃO Take a caldron which will hold two cantaros, and fill it with red grapes and set it to cook upon the fire until it is reduced by half and there remains half a caldron which is one cantaro; and when the grapes are cooked, remove the scum with a wooden spoon; and stir it now and then with a stick; and strain this must through a clean cloth and cast it into a cantaro; and then cast in the mustard, which should be up to a dishful well-ground, little by little, stirring it with the stick. And each day you should stir with it, four or five times a day; and if you wish, you can grind with the mustard three parts cinnamon, two parts cloves, and one part ginger. This French mustard is very good and lasts all year and is mulberry-colored. Credit http://www.florilegium.org/files/FOOD-MANUSCRIPTS/Guisados1-art.html Le Menagier De Paris: MUSTARD. If you wish to provide for keeping mustard a long time do it at wine-harvest in sweet must. And some say that the must should be boiled. Item, if you want to make mustard hastily in a village, grind some mustard-seed in a mortar and soak in vinegar, and strain; and if you want to make it ready the sooner, put it in a pot in front of the fire. Item, and if you wish to make it properly and at leisure, put the mustard-seed to soak overnight in good vinegar, then have it ground fine in a mill, and then little by little moisten it with vinegar: and if you have some spices left over from making jelly, broth, hypocras or sauces, they may be ground up with it, and then leave it until it is ready. From what I have learned, I think they use some mustard powder and leave some of those black seeds whole. I plan to toast black mustard seeds to get a nice nutty flavor, but if this stuff looks like caviar, the seeds must be whole. I am assuming the spices are cinnamon, cloves, and ginger. Possibly some pepper. I may also grind some of the mustard seeds with spices in the coffee grinder to get my powder. Hmmmmmmmmm Here is a link that might be useful: Medieval Mustard Recipes and Histories

birdsarecool, I have written some articles on praying mantids at www.suite101.com (link below). If you click on my name, you will get a list of the other 30+ articles I have written: on topics ranging from Lyme disease to butterfly migration and slipper shells. As a field biologist, I can assure you that the mantises hatching from your egg case will be able to survive, but less than 10 will grow to be adults. There are too many predators, including the mantises themselves, that like juicy insects for lunch. That is just the way nature works. There is plenty of outdoor food in Massachusetts for mantises during the growing season, but during the winter, you need to provide food: aphids are already in hibernation, but if you put a opened, ripe banana the counter, you should pick up fruit flies with no difficulty even this late in the season (I still have them flying in my kitchen in CT). Grow them on oatmeal and banana with some yeast added - I will give you a recipe if you ask. Tiny mealworms, hatchling crickets, and red worms will also be taken by baby mantises. Small crickets are good once the mantids are about 1 inch long. Feed the crickets spinach and oatmeal for at least a week before giving them to the mantids. That provides the crickets with vitamins and minerals needed by the mantids. It is much better to wait until spring to put the eggs in a warm area, but if you wish to raise a few for a science fair project, you should refrigerate the eggs for four weeks before making them warm. The cold triggers allows them to begin developing faster. If you have questions, you can email me from the Suite101 site and I will answer them directly. Enjoy. Al Here is a link that might be useful: Raising Mantids from Egg

Kari & Clare - Kari - My sources for wheat: 1. locally grown hard winter red and white wheat (free or very cheap, but usually NOT chemical-free or organic) 2. Heartland Mill, Marienthal, KS - organic grains 3. Bob's Red Mill - soft white wheat (and other grains) 4. Wal-Mart - Hard Spring White Wheat - Prairie Gold (from Wheat Montana - chemical-free) - they also carry hard red wheat Bronze Chief. Wal-Mart has only recently started carrying Wheat Montana wheat around here - $5 for 25-pounds. Mills: 1. (A very old) Whisper Mill - which is an electric impact mill (now known as a Wonder Mill) - this mills most grains/seeds/beans into a very fine flour - fine flour = fine bread, coarse flour = coarse bread. 2. Marga Mulino Flaker Mill - for cracked grain, flakes, and coarse farina (for cooked cereal) 3. Corona Corn Mill - for coarsely milled grain and corn meal. 4. Porkert Seed Grinder - for small seeds, such as amaranth, poppy seeds, teff, etc. 5. Bosch Coffee/Spice - for milling flaxmeal. 6. Family Grain Mill - a hand mill, that also has an electric-powered motor to run it as well, that has a lot of attachments available for other uses (meat grinders, flakers, etc.). This is my back-up mill. You have to mill the flour twice to get a reasonably fine grind of flour. Source for recipes: I suggest you start by substituting unbleached/bleached flour in your favorite recipes with a portion of wholegrain flour. There are all kinds of books out there on whole wheat baking. I have a collection of 28 beans, seeds, and grains that I use milled and whole - included in that, several types of wheat. I develop many of my own recipes because I use really "odd" ingredients, including gluten-free baking. Here's a few books I like from the large selection in my library: RECIPES FROM THE OLD MILL (Baking with Whole Grains) by Sarah E. Myers and Mary Beth Lind WHOLE WHEAT COOKERY (Treasures from the Wheat Bin) by Howard and Anna Ruth Beck THE AMAZING WHEAT BOOK by LeArta Moulton THE SPLENDID GRAIN (all kinds of seeds and grains) by Rebecca Wood WHEAT COOKIN' MADE EASY by Pam Crockett --------------- Clare - Wheat comes in HARD (strong/high-gluten) and SOFT (weak/low-gluten) varieties. Whole Wheat Pastry Flour is milled from (low-gluten) soft red wheat, just like you thought. It's best used just as you described - in baked goods where you don't want a lot of gluten development - for the most part, anything other than yeast breads. Low-gluten bleached flour would include White Lily and Martha White - which are great for quick breads, pastry, etc. I purchase soft white wheat berries from Bob's Red Mill to mill into whole wheat pastry flour. I also use freshly-milled spelt and some rye, barley, and triticale for baked goods that need low-gluten flour, as an alternative to soft wheat flour. All wheat has a protein level that determins if the grain is hard or soft. Even in the same field you'll find protein (gluten) level differences from one side of the field to the other. If a portion of the field is shaded(usually at the edge of the field) and/or there's a low place in the field that retains water after a rain, the wheat that receives a lot of water/shade will usually have a low-protein count. Even though hard wheat may have been planted, the protein level is also determined by the amount of rainfall, and other factors. Soft wheats are characteristicly plump (a lot of endosperm), while hard wheat varieties (especially winter wheat) is small, wrinkled, and very hard when you bite it. When soft whole wheat is milled, the flour is exactly that - very soft to the touch. Hard whole wheat is much 'grittier' - due to the higher percentage of bran to endosperm ratio. All bleached/unbleached flour is milled from a combination of wheat protein levels to formulate the amount of protein for the type of flour needed. High-protein wheat is used for yeast breads, a combination of hard and soft wheat is milled for all-purpose flour, and pastry flour is milled from soft wheat. There are also fields of extremely high protein wheats (15% or more), but they are mixed with lower protein wheat to make flour. I've used some wheat that was 16% protein, and it took forever (lots of kneading and a very long fermentation) to develop the gluten in bread - 12-13% protein level is much better for yeast bread. Too much gluten will make a tough loaf of bread. The highest protein level wheat is durum wheat. Unlike hard red and white wheat varieties which are used for yeast breads, durum wheat is used in pasta. I mill durum for whole wheat pasta - NOT red or white varieties of wheat. Commercial whole wheat pasta is made with wholegrain durum wheat. The elements in wheat protein that we call "gluten" are actually a gluten group - GLUTENINS and GLIADINS. Glutenins provide the elasticity quality that allows bread dough to expand. Gliadins contribute to the viscosity and extensibility of bread dough. Red and white wheat varieties have a dominance of GLUTENINS and less GLIADINS. Durum wheat has a dominance of GLIADINS and less GLUTENINS. Therefore, even though durum wheat has a high protein level, it's unsuited for bread making, due to the type of protein. -Grainlady

Oh Fudd, you just couldn't control yourself. A simple question about the use of a particular flour and you had to go on about something that had nothing to do with the original question. I do however wish that Grainlady was still here as she had some terrific knowledge of things I am just learning. You on the other hand, hmm. Lets just see what else you would like to contribute. Thank you.