Spice
Brassica nigra
A tier
Brassica nigra is black mustard—the smallest, hottest traditional seed, hard to harvest mechanically, largely replaced by brown juncea in industry but still prized for extreme pungency in specialty pastes. Use when maximum mustard fire is wanted. Seeds are tiny and dark.
Track this ingredient
Unit
Characteristics
Preparations
Hot PasteSpecialty MustardWhole Seed
Traits
Black SeedHottest TraditionalSmall SeedSpecialtyTiny SeedTraditionalVery Hot
History
GR
Classical sources knew black mustard as a fierce condiment seed.
Linnaeus named Brassica nigra black mustard.
Mechanisation favoured brown over black mustard for yield.
Specialty mills still sought B. nigra for traditional hot mustards.