The museum is located in Middleton, Wisconsin. (Wikimedia Commons)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cIt was just something about the mustards,\u201d he said. \u201cI heard a voice coming from them, \u2018Collect us and they will come.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Today, the nonprofit museum contains some 6,090 mustards from over 70 countries along with a gift shop and exhibits about mustard\u2019s history. Levenson also hosts the annual World-Wide Mustard Competition, which judges the condiment in 17 categories.<\/p>\n
Levenson loves mustard on everything, even doughnuts and ice cream. He suggests a sweet variety \u2013 like cranberry and raspberry \u2013 for desserts and says that pecan-flavored mustard is delicious on ice cream.
Levenson has created his own concoctions, too. His most recent experiment was a mustard pudding, and he\u2019s working up to a cr\u00e8me brulee. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve tried just about everything, different ingredients, flavors and spices,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m kind of a mustard mad scientist.\u201d <\/p>\n
But Levenson is a purist when it comes to deli sandwiches, only using brown mustard. Ten years ago he did an informal survey of several New York delis about what makes a good mustard. Some said it needed to have horseradish, while others preferred garlic. In Levenson\u2019s opinion, a really good brown mustard will have a horseradish bite because both contain the compound allyl isothiocyanate, which provides the pungent flavor in both brown mustard seeds and horseradish root. Many delis serve both brown and yellow mustard to appease varying tastes.<\/p>\n
The delicatessen originated in Germany in 1700 as a shop that sold exotic items, like bananas, mangos and plums. When Ashkenazi Jews immigrated to America, they brought the deli with them. Katz\u2019s Delicatessen in New York \u2013 one of the world\u2019s most famous \u2013 is credited as the first in the U.S., established in 1888. Around that time, delis expanded into offering lunch, creating a lunch break staple of sandwiches filled with corned beef or peppery pastrami. <\/p>\n
Those fatty meats may not be healthy, but mustard is. It has few calories and contains antioxidants and other beneficial nutrients, akin to broccoli and brussels sprouts, which are members of the same plant family. It can even help with respiratory and muscular pain. Fun fact: Runners sometimes carry packets of yellow mustard to relieve leg cramps.<\/p>\n
A view of some of the museum’s shelves. (Courtesy of Barry Levenson)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Mustard wasn\u2019t always on the menu for Levenson, a native of Worcester, Massachusetts, who attended rabbinical school for a time but \u201cchickened out\u201d and shifted to law. Before opening the museum, he worked as a lawyer for 15 years, including a stint as the assistant attorney general for Wisconsin.
\u201cIt\u2019s not a very large Jewish community, but we do what we can here in Madison,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
Even though he doesn\u2019t keep kosher, carrying kosher mustard was important to Levenson, who insisted on selling dozens of kosher varieties in the museum gift shop. Some are premium offerings, like Silver Spring Foods\u2019 Deli-Style Mustard, which was crowned grand champion and won several other awards at the World-Wide Mustard Competition in 2008. It\u2019s a brand that Levenson uses himself, which is high praise in the condiment world.<\/p>\n
The only thing Levenson dislikes about mustard is its relationship with ketchup. The popular, royal red condiment is much younger than mustard and sometimes steals its spotlight. <\/p>\n
This seeming slight on his favorite ingredient is blasphemy to Levenson: \u201cYou never hear anything about ketchup in the Torah, right? No, nothing!\u201d<\/p>\n
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