The Great Saskatchewan Mustard Festival is celebrating its 10th anniversary in a new location and with dozens of new mustard-based dishes.
The decade-old festival — this year held on Queen Elizabeth II Lawn West — puts an emphasis on Saskatchewan’s esteemed seed, and challenges local chefs to get creative while using the yellow condiment.
“[You] get to see the mad scientist come out a little bit in some of the chefs,” festival co-chair Greg Hanwell said.
Hanwell said the experience is not only enjoyable for the chefs, but also for the public, who often don’t realize the importance of the seed in Saskatchewan.
“I think people’s eyes open up and go, ‘really, we do that much? Mustard is that big here?'” he said.
“We’re not just a wheat province or a canola province. A lot of that yellow is mustard and for good reason.”
Canada is far and away the largest exporter of mustard seed. Nearly 80 per cent of the crop comes from Saskatchewan producers.
But mustard goes far beyond a simple hotdog condiment, Beer Bros. chef Fabian Boersch explained.
“Yellow mustard is going to be kind of the most fragrant. When you’re driving by a mustard field you’re going to smell it, you’re going to see those bright yellow flowers,” Boersch said.
“Oriental is usually classified as the spiciest type of mustard. Then brown is kind of in the middle ground between the two.”
Those three types of mustard will be on full display Sunday, when 18 local kitchens work to create mustard masterpieces.
Included in the list of food providers is Industrial Park Café’s Dan Taylor, who for the past two years has been awarded the coveted Chef’s Yellow Coat — the trophy voted on by festival-goers for the best dish.
“So far, so good. I’m hoping to three-peat,” Taylor said.
The Great Saskatchewan Mustard Festival runs from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on August 21.
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