Just yesterday, our neighbors called, asking if we could use some blueberries. They were going out of town, and, rather than letting the berries go to waste…. On top of that, we’d just bought blueberries this week; they’re starting to come into season, so we have a bunch of blueberries to go through. Fortunately, we hit the stacks and found a couple of recipes that will help us use them. First up, Blueberry Mostarda.
As with many things we try, we’ve never had Blueberry Mostarda, but, we figured, what the heck. If it’s anything like the Cherry Mostarda we make, we’ll be happy. So, we’ll try it. Are you up for trying a batch, too? Great, let’s scratch this up!
Blueberry Mostarda
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup white wine vinegar (120 g)
- 1/4 cup sugar (50 g)
- 1/2 small white onion diced
- 1 tsp yellow mustard seeds
- 1/2 tsp dried ginger
- 1 bay leaf
- 1/2 tsp dried thyme
- Pinch of kosher salt
- 12 ounces blueberries
Instructions
- Place the vinegar, sugar, onion, mustard seeds, ginger, bay leaf, thyme, and salt in a saucepan. Bring to a simmer over medium heat and simmer until reduced by half.
- Add half of the blueberries and continue simmering until thickened, and the blueberries have burst.
- Remove from heat and stir in remaining blueberries.
- Pack in a clean container and refrigerate.
Ingredient discussion:
We aren’t big fans of buying ingredients for just a single recipe, so, when we looked at the original version from Root to Leaf, by Steven Satterfield, we knew we didn’t have a thyme sprig or fresh ginger or a shallot or Champagne vinegar, so we just substituted what we did have. We figure it’s better to make something than fret about something you can’t make.
Procedure in detail:
Reduce seasonings. Mix together the vinegar, sugar, onion, mustard seeds, ginger, bay leaf, thyme, and salt, and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Continue simmering, stirring occasionally, until reduced by half. You can just eye up the amount and you’ll be fine; we actually weighed the pan and its contents before starting to simmer, and, based on the amount of vinegar we added (120 g), we’d have to simmer until the weight was reduced by about 60 grams. You might think this is too much trouble, but we didn’t.
Add half of blueberries. Stir in half of the blueberries and continue simmering, stirring often, until the mixture is thick and all the blueberries have burst. We had the luck of having two six-ounce containers, so we could add one now, saving the other until later. But, we don’t think you need to be too exact.
Add remaining blueberries. Remove the bay leaf and remove the pan from the heat. Stir in the remaining blueberries and let cool for about 10-15 minutes. The second addition of blueberries will give the mostarda not only a cooked blueberry taste, but a nice fresh taste, too.
Pack and chill. Transfer the mostarda to a clean pint jar, cover, and refrigerate for a day or so to let the flavors mellow. Serve with a small appetizer plate of some sort.
We haven’t tried this yet, but figure that we’ll have it to accompany a small cheese and vegetable plate in the near future. Until then, we won’t give it a rating, but, as always, you can rate it yourself.
Well, we’ve tried it, and we thought it was great along with a Brie-style cheese we’ve been really enjoying lately (Petite Breakfast by the Marin French Cheese Company). It has a bit of sweetness, a bit of spice, and a slight tartness. We think this recipe is a winner, and, since it’s basically just simmer, simmer, simmer, five stars
