For Francophone mustard lovers, 2022 was a difficult year. The shelves in French supermarkets, where the jars of Dijon mustard from Maille, Amora and other producers were normally to be found, usually next to the cornichons and other spicy and sour specialities, were bare. Queries were answered with just a regretful shrug of the shoulders. Practically all the producers had delivery problems.
The reason for this was to be found on the other side of the world: Extreme heat and drought in the previous year had led to massive crop failures in North America. However, most French producers had previously sourced the seed for their mustard from Canada. Dijon mustard seed had not been used in Dijon mustard for many decades. Unlike many other French products, Dijon mustard refers to a specific recipe and not a protected geographical name. Nevertheless, most of the major producers are represented in the region: Amora and Maille, which belong to Unilever, for example, or Européenne de Condiments (EdC), now owned by the German company Kühne.
Yellow mustard fields used to bloom in Burgundy in the summer. The farmers delivered their harvest to local producers in Dijon or Beaune. From the 1960s onwards, however, they gave up growing mustard in favour of cash crops like wheat or maize.
Mustard cultivation in France
This is an understandable decision when you look at mustard plants in the field shortly before harvest. Thin and straggly, they look like the poorer siblings of rapeseed, which they are actually related to, through family ties of the cruciferous plants. The small pods contain oil-bearing seeds that are hardly any larger than pin heads. In Canada, mustard is grown on a large scale in monocultures using lots of fertiliser and pesticides, mainly in the province of Alberta. This has enabled the Canadians to produce profitably and become the world’s largest mustard exporters.
Other exporters include countries like Ukraine, Russia and the USA. The largest producer, however, is Nepal, but there the small seeds are used locally. “Mustard is difficult to grow, it is susceptible to infestation by insects and the yield is low at only 1-2t/ha; wheat and maize can yield almost five times as much,” says Damien Beaumont from Barges in the Département de la Côte-d’Or. Nevertheless, he is is a grower of mustard. His last field is being harvested and a huge cloud of dust trails behind the combine. It has been an extremely dry year, but a broad jet of mustard seeds is discharged into the trailer being towed by a tractor alongside the combine. The trailer is quickly full and is brought into the new shed that Damien has built, together with his three partners.
Satisfied, the farmer climbs onto the trailer and holds out a handful of grains to us. “Try it, it’s very spicy.” With his straw hat, shorts and flip-flops, Damien doesn’t look like a typical farmer. He and his partners have been growing mustard on a good part of their 770ha since 2003, and he is also vice president of the Association des Producteurs de Graines de Moutarde de Bourgogne (APGMB). The Burgundy Association of Mustard Seed Growers is expanding rapidly and creating a countertrend, fuelled by the mustard emergency in Canada and as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
At eye level with the farmers
Last year, it consisted of 300 farmers growing mustard on a total of 4,000ha. In 2023, the number of producers doubled, and the hectares tripled. “Mustard is currently the crop with the highest profit margin,” explains Damien with a satisfied smile. Before the drought in Canada, farmers from Burgundy were earning €800-€900/t (£683-£768/t); in 2022 it was €1,350 (£1,152/t) and in 2023 it was €2,000/t (£1,706/t) for conventionally grown mustard and €3,000/t (£2,560/t) for the organic variety produced by Damien and his partners. “But we are expecting prices to stabilise at €1,500/t (£1,280/t) for conventional produce,” says Damien.
The higher prices are being driven by supply and demand. But there is another, possibly more pioneering reason. The Association Moutarde de Bourgogne (AMB), to which almost all producers in the region belong, is focusing on partnerships with the farmers as equals. In order to promote mustard growing in the region, it pays higher prices and guarantees them purchase quantities. Today, these producers process around one third of the mustard grown in the region. They are also working together to develop robust varieties which should flourish particularly well in the region and require less fertiliser and crop protection chemical input.
Moutarderie Fallot is the only mustard manufacturer that only uses brown mustard seeds from the region.
Marc Désarménien
The idea and initiative to return to regional mustard came from Marc Désarménien, the owner and director of the Moutaderie Marc Edmond Fallot in Beaune, which he has managed since 1994 as the third generation. The route there leads past the picturesque old town of Beaune. The Fallot mustard mill, built in 1840, also has an impressive façade, with an additional hall being added to the historic building a long time ago. In the 19th Century, there were 30 mustard mills in Beaune.
Regional cultivation
Today, Fallot is the only family-owned company of its kind in Burgundy. Its survival is probably due to Marc’s idea of focusing on local mustard and establishing a partnership between producers and farmers 10 years ago. Fallot is the only producer that processes just brown mustard seeds from the region. That’s also why the company was the only one that could keep on delivering in 2022. Demand exploded due to lack of supply of the other varieties.
“Our production of 2,200t has increased by 10% in each of the past three years, and we could have sold a lot more, especially in 2022,” says Héloïse Taccard, export manager at Fallot. In addition to the growth in France, where half of the production is sold, Fallot was also able to expand exports to the USA, Japan and Germany, where Edmond Fallot mustard can be purchased at Frischeparadies. It can also be found in the branches of Mediterranean gourmet retailer, Viani, and at Fromi, among others, thanks to the supply bottlenecks for the other mustard varieties.
Although the mustard seeds from the region are more expensive than those from Canada, the shorter transport chain has less impact on the environment. The partnership with farmers promotes regional value creation. “And the flavour is much better,” says master mustard maker, Julien Bornet. Kitted out in his white coat and cap, he stands in the production hall stirring a large barrel full of mustard. The yellow colour of the mixture is just as intense as that of a freshly crushed, ripe mustard seed.
This is how special mustard is created
The odour in the hall brings tears to your eyes. That’s due to the allyl isothiocyanate which forms during the enzymatic conversion of the mustard oil. The mustard seeds soak in water for 24 hours, then steep in vinegar or white wine, to which salt and other spices are added. Then they are ground between grooved, 200-year-old granite grindstones, the size of truck tyres. “We work very slowly at high pressure and without heat, which is how we get the unique flavour and intense colour of the mustard,” explains Julien.
Only later are a wide variety of ingredients added to produce the different varieties, from chillies, honey and rosemary to beer or algae. Very popular, particularly on the French market, is the variety made with Burgundy white wine instead of vinegar. However, the main product is and remains the classic mustard.
Traditional mustard from Bautzen
Bautzen is no different. The town in Saxony in the East of Germany also has a picturesque town centre. However, a mustard producer with a long history has been producing outside the city since 1976. Here, too, they are increasingly focusing on using regional mustard seeds, in what is actually more of a potato-growing area. Today is the first day of delivery of the local harvest. Plant manager Michael Bischof holds a probing hand in the stream of brightly coloured grains pouring out of the trailer into the washing system. “The harvest comes from fields within a radius of 20km; the closest farm is just 1,500m away,” he says. Bautz’ner stores these yellow varieties in two silos and the brown varieties in a third silo.
Before the Russian invasion, a large proportion of the processed seed came from Ukraine. That then became a problem. “But we were never unable to deliver,” says Michael. Bautz’ner had already started to expand its regional purchasing 10 years ago. Back then, 40% of the processed seed came from Germany; today it is 60%, 10-15% of which comes from the local Upper Lusatia region. The rest still comes from Ukraine, as well as from the Czech Republic and Slovakia and, in exceptional cases, from Canada.
Bautz’ner also has the right taste and colour. However, instead of using traditional millstones, it works with corundum mills, in which two discs grind on top of each other under high pressure. “That’s much more efficient,” explains Michael. The old granite millstones now stand as an eye-catching front piece to the factory entrance. It is the high pressure and speediness that generate heat in the corundum mills. “We cool the mustard down from 50⁰C to 23⁰C as quickly as possible to prevent the aromas from evaporating.”
We grind our mustard with corundum mills. This is much more efficient than the old granite grinding stones.
Michael Bischof
As the market leader for medium-hot mustard in Germany, Bautz’ner produces 17,000t per year – a completely different quantity to that produced at Moutaderie Edmond Fallot. In the days of the German Democratic Republic, this mustard was indispensable in the kitchen. But that all changed after German reunification. Nevertheless, the company from Saxony was able to establish itself very successfully in the unified German market. In 1991, it was still producing just 3,000t. Then, in 1992, the family owned Develey Group took over, working with a sustainable concept. The works council and the company management at the time had written a joint letter to the Deutsche Treuhand Gesellschaft in favour of this.
From 70 employees in 1990, only 38 were left five years later. But then the company was able to grow again, and today has 56 employees. An important part of the concept was and still is the regional context. “We pay attention to this in all our decisions,” says Michael. This goes right down to the small plastic pots in which Bautz’ner is predominantly sold. Some 36m of them are filled per year, all of which come from a local manufacturer. At the time, farmers in Upper Lusatia didn’t really want to grow mustard anymore.
“Mustard is a bit of a softy; it reacts very sensitively to too much rain or dryness,” explains Ronny Döcke, chairman of the Regional Growers’ Co-operative. “On the other hand, the plant is very good for our soil.” This year, 16 members of this co-operative have grown a total of 240ha of mustard, with a total production of 390t. The partnership-based contract farming helps here, too. “We negotiate prices and quantities every year so that we can look each other in the eye again next year,” continues Ronny. We also work together to improve varieties and growing techniques or organise transparent discussions about the quality of the seeds and harvest at field days.” Michael notes: “That’s not possible with a supplier from overseas.”. This is demonstrating how a new secure supply chain can serve mustard lovers.