Lombard candied whole fruits suspended in a syrup made fierce with mustard essence
Origin: Cremona, Lombardy, Italy
From the journey of Mustard.
Italian mostarda is not mustard, and a jar of it opened in the expectation of a condiment is one of the more startling experiences in European food. What it is: whole or large pieces of fruit, candied slowly in sugar syrup over several days until they turn translucent and glassy while still holding their shape, and then charged with mustard essence until the syrup burns the back of the nose. Cremona makes the famous version, a jewel-box of whole cherries, figs, apricots, pears, and clementines that looks like confectionery and behaves like horseradish. Mantua makes a plainer one from a single fruit, usually quince or apple, chopped rather than whole. Vicenza, Voghera, and half a dozen other towns each keep their own. The word is the same Latin mustum that gives English mustard, and the shared root is the whole explanation: both descend from the medieval habit of preserving with grape must and mustard seed together. Northern Italy kept the fruit version and largely abandoned the plain condiment, which is why Italy has almost no tradition of mustard in a pot and a very strong one of mustard in a fruit jar. Its logic is medieval and it has not changed. Sugar-preserved fruit was a luxury, mustard was a preservative and a stimulant of appetite, and the collision of the sweet and the violent was exactly to the taste of a late-medieval table that also liked its meat with sugar and cinnamon. Where it goes is fixed. Mostarda is the compulsory partner to bollito misto, the great winter platter of boiled beef, tongue, capon, and cotechino that is the centrepiece of the Lombard and Emilian table, where its sweetness and its heat cut through several hours of simmered meat. It is also served with aged cheese, and the Mantuan version is worked into the filling of tortelli di zucca.
Food-grade mustard essence is sold by Italian grocers and online as essenza di senape. It is extremely strong and should be handled with care and kept away from eyes; a small bottle lasts years. The mustard powder alternative gives a cloudier syrup and a rounder, less piercing heat, and is perfectly acceptable. It keeps for a year in sealed jars in a cool dark place, and the heat mellows steadily over that time. The fruit is a matter of what is good: figs, plums, melon, and whole small pears all work. What matters is that everything is firm and slightly underripe, since soft fruit will collapse over four days of syrup. Serve with bollito misto, with roast pork, with a board of aged cheeses, particularly Parmigiano and Gorgonzola, and with cold cuts. A spoonful chopped into the filling of pumpkin tortelli is the Mantuan use.
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