On food and cooking the science and lore of the kitchen ( PDFDrive ) 797

foodthroughtheairtoirritateournasal
passagesaswellasourmouth.Theactive
ingredientsofchillisandblackpepper
becomesignificantlyvolatileonlyathigh
temperatures,aboveabout140ºF/60ºC,which
iswhyroastinghotchillisortoasting
peppercornscancauseeveryoneinthekitchen
tostartsneezing.Butmustardandhorseradish
andwasabicangetintothenoseevenatroom
ormouthtemperature.Theirsisahead-filling
hotness.
Thepungencyofmustardsandtheir
relativesarisesfromthesamechemicaldefensesystemusedbytheirvegetable
relativesinthecabbagefamily(p.321).The
plantsstoretheirirritantdefenses,the
isothiocyanates,bycombiningthemwitha
sugarmolecule.Thestorageformisnot
irritating,butitdoestastebitter.Whentheir
cellsaredamaged,specialenzymesreachthe
storageformandbreakitapart,liberatingthe
irritantmolecules(andatthesametime


eliminatingthebitterness).Mustardseedsand
horseradishrootsarepungentbecausewe
grindthemuprawandencouragetheir
enzymestoliberatetheirritantmolecules.
Whenmustardseedsarecooked—formany
Indiandishestheyaretoastedorfrieduntil
theypop—theliberatingenzymesare
inactivated,noirritantsareliberated,andtheir

flavorendsupnuttyandbitterratherthan
pungent.
Mustards Mustard seed has been found in
prehistoric sites from Europe to China, and
was the first and only native pungent spice
available to early Europe. It has been made
intothefamiliarEuropeancondimentatleast
since Roman times; its name in most
EuropeanlanguagescomesnotfromtheLatin
name of the seed or plant (sinapis), but from
the condiment, which was made with freshly
fermented wine (mustum), and the hot
(ardens) seeds. Different nations have