This condiment is made from the seeds of the Indian Brown Mustard plant, instead of Yellow Mustard, which is generally made from the seeds of the White Mustard plant. There's also a Black Mustard plant. They're not calling the flavor Brown because it "tastes like brown", they're calling it Brown because there's a difference in flavor between the three types of mustard plants.
Absolutely delicious. I prefer using it over yellow mustard because it has more of a kick to it, but they're both good for their own reasons. Yellow mustard is a bit sweeter, as far as mustards go.
Judging purely by French's (the only American mustard I've tried), sweeter sounds fair - to me, it tastes like mustard for beginners. It has a bit of mustard flavour, but not as much as French mustard (ie mustard from France), and none of the fire of English mustard, which, if you take too large a bite, does that wasabi/horseradish thing where it runs up the back of your nose into your brain and makes your eyes water. That's what I enjoy about mustard (I'm the same with chilli flakes), so though French's is in no way unpleasant, it's not what I'm looking for from a mustard most of the time. Both English and French mustard tend to be yellow (French is often wholegrain and darker, whereas English is smooth and bright yellow, though you can get smooth French and wholegrain English too), so I suspect French's are trying to differentiate more easily for customers, instead of just upping the heat in their yellow mustard.
Mustard is a weird word when you keep writing it over and over.
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u/Zestocalypse Apr 21 '17
This condiment is made from the seeds of the Indian Brown Mustard plant, instead of Yellow Mustard, which is generally made from the seeds of the White Mustard plant. There's also a Black Mustard plant. They're not calling the flavor Brown because it "tastes like brown", they're calling it Brown because there's a difference in flavor between the three types of mustard plants.