Homemade Mustard for Full GAPS

This homemade mustard starts with yellow and brown mustard seeds soaked in apple cider vinegar and water. Blend the softened mixture into a grainy condiment or a finer paste, then give the finished jar two days in the refrigerator before serving. It has a sharp vinegar tang and the heat of mustard seeds, with no sweetener in the plain batch.

The amounts are measured by weight and volume: fifty grams of yellow seeds, twenty-five grams of brown seeds, eighty milliliters of cider vinegar and sixty milliliters of filtered water. Half a teaspoon of natural salt finishes the mixture. A small kitchen scale makes those seed measurements easy to repeat.

Jump to the Recipe

Our family has followed GAPS since July 2024, and much of my cooking happens before I leave for second shift. I do not have an elaborate batch-prep routine running in the background. When a preparation needs a few days, I need to know that before I start planning the meal that uses it.

For this jar, I would write down the soaking date and the day it will be ready after blending and chilling. The hands-on work is short. The waiting is what needs a place in the week, especially if I want mustard ready for a dressing or an egg filling.

What You Need For Homemade Mustard

Yellow mustard seeds, fifty grams: These make up the larger share of the seed mixture. Keep them whole for the soaking step. Weigh them into a small bowl before adding them to the jar.

Brown mustard seeds, twenty-five grams: They bring a stronger, hotter flavor to the mixture. Keep their amount separate from the yellow seed measurement so the balance stays the same each time you make a batch.

Plain apple cider vinegar, eighty milliliters: Use vinegar without added flavors or sweeteners. The vinegar goes into the soaking jar and stays in the mustard when you blend. Do not drain it away afterward.

Filtered water, sixty milliliters: Add it to the vinegar before soaking. Measure this separately; it is not an instruction to fill the jar to a certain height or keep topping up the seeds.

Natural salt, half a teaspoon: Use natural sea or rock salt. This goes in after blending. The plain recipe has no honey; an optional small honey addition is explained below if you prefer a sweeter condiment.

Choosing The Jar And Blender

Choose a clean glass jar with enough room for the seeds and liquid together, with space above the mixture. A jar that closes securely is useful for the soaking stage. You also need a clean lidded glass jar for the finished mustard.

My blender is the Ninja BN801 Professional Plus Kitchen System. It includes two twenty-four-ounce single-serve cups with their Pro Extractor blade assembly. Use the twenty-four-ounce cup and its Pro Extractor assembly for this small batch.

Use the correct cup and blade assembly for your machine and keep the contents below its maximum fill line. Blend, stop and check the texture. If the mixture needs scraping down, take the cup off the base and open it according to the manufacturer’s instructions before using a spatula.

A spatula helps transfer the mustard into its storage jar. Have it ready before blending so you can collect the paste from the sides of the cup without adding extra water to rinse it out.

How To Make Mustard From Seeds

1. Combine The Seeds And Liquid

Put the measured yellow and brown seeds into the soaking jar. Add the eighty milliliters of cider vinegar and sixty milliliters of filtered water. Stir so the seed mixture is wetted evenly, then cover the jar.

The brown and yellow seeds should be mixed through one another, not sitting as separate dry layers. This is a seed-and-liquid mixture at this point. It will not look like a spoonful of prepared mustard yet.

2. Allow Time For Soaking

Give the seeds twenty-four hours to soak before blending. Keep the covered jar in the refrigerator for this preparation. The seeds take up liquid as they hydrate; some loose liquid may still be visible around them.

Keep that liquid for the next step. This is not a preparation where you pour off the soaking water and rinse the seeds. The measured vinegar and water are part of the finished condiment.

3. Blend To Your Preferred Texture

Transfer the entire soaked mixture to the blender cup, including its liquid. Blend until the texture suits how you want to use the mustard. Stop and check the texture as you blend.

For a coarse mustard, leave visible seed pieces through the paste. For a finer mustard, blend further so more of those pieces break down. A few dark flecks from the seed coats can remain; the mixture does not have to become a perfectly uniform yellow cream.

4. Add The Salt

Stir in the half teaspoon of natural salt. Mix it through the whole batch. Scrape the sides of the container so one part does not hold more salt than another.

The fresh mixture can taste quite sharp. Let it have its refrigerator rest before deciding it needs a different seed ratio or more liquid. The recipe’s measured balance includes the full soaking liquid and this salt amount.

5. Refrigerate Before Serving

Transfer the mustard to a clean glass jar, close it and refrigerate for at least two days before serving. This rest gives the flavor time to mellow. Date the jar so you know when the batch was made and when that first rest is complete.

The card allows twenty-four hours soaking plus forty-eight hours chilling, with a five-minute hands-on planning estimate. That is three days and five minutes altogether. Blending and transferring can take longer depending on your equipment and the texture you choose.

Where Mustard Fits On Full GAPS

Dr. Natasha lists mustard seeds and pure mustard powder in the recommended foods in Gut and Physiology Syndrome. Her Full GAPS list also includes prepared mustards made without ingredients outside the diet. This jar keeps the mixture to seeds, cider vinegar, water and natural salt.

Use it on Full GAPS after its foods are introduced. It is a sharp condiment, not an early Intro food. The GAPS food list and stage guide helps you choose the rest of the meal for the foods you are currently eating.

The plain batch is free of added sweetener, dairy and eggs. Those details can make it useful in different Full GAPS meals, but the seeds mean it does not fit No-Plant GAPS. If you are choosing an unsweetened condiment for your meals, leave it as written.

The cider vinegar gives this mustard its tang. Soaking prepares the seeds for blending, and chilling gives the finished condiment time to mellow. Keep the whole mixture together through those steps.

Using And Storing Your Mustard

Start with the amount called for in the recipe you are making. A little mustard can change a dressing or filling quite noticeably, especially when it is freshly blended. Taste the finished preparation as you mix rather than adding a large extra spoonful automatically.

Use the finished mustard in ranch deviled eggs with homemade mustard. That recipe starts with a smaller amount and lets you add more within its measured range until the yolk filling is creamy and spoonable.

The separate three-ingredient honey mustard dressing combines prepared mustard with honey and cider vinegar. It gives you a measured way to turn some of this plain jar into a sweeter dressing.

For a savory meal, the mustard and rosemary lamb roast uses plain cider-vinegar mustard in its coating. Follow that roast’s own amounts and cooking instructions; the jar here is only the prepared condiment.

Keep the mustard covered in the refrigerator and use it within three weeks. Take out what you need with a clean utensil. This is a refrigerated jar, not a shelf-stable canning recipe.

My planned Sauces, Dressings & Condiments Cookbook brings these smaller kitchen preparations together with ways to use them in meals. Follow the WFLI cookbook catalog for its release if you would like those recipes in one place.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I Use Honey In The Mustard?

Yes. One teaspoon of raw honey is an optional addition after blending if you want a little sweetness. The plain batch and its card below leave it out. Keep the rest of the ingredients the same.

Do I Need To Strain Out The Seed Pieces?

No. The whole soaked mixture is blended and kept. Choose a coarse texture by leaving more seed pieces visible, or blend further for a finer paste. Straining would remove part of the measured seed mixture.

Can I Weigh Both Seeds In One Bowl?

Yes. Put a clean, dry bowl on your scale and zero it before adding the yellow seeds. Once you have fifty grams, you can zero the scale again and add twenty-five grams of brown seeds. If you keep the first weight on the display instead, add the brown seeds until the combined weight reaches seventy-five grams. Use a milliliter measuring jug for the water and vinegar; their volume measurements are separate from the seed weights.

What Changes For A Double Batch?

Use one hundred grams of yellow seeds, fifty grams of brown seeds, one hundred sixty milliliters of cider vinegar, one hundred twenty milliliters of water and one teaspoon salt. Use enough jar and blender capacity. The soaking and refrigerator rest do not double.

Recommended Equipment

Use a kitchen scale, small bowl for weighing, liquid measuring jug, half-teaspoon measure, clean glass soaking and storage jars, a spatula and the Ninja BN801 with its twenty-four-ounce cup and correct blade assembly. Keep the jars covered during their refrigerator stages.