Butterfly Bakery of Vermont – Maple Wood Smoked Chipotle Mustard
In addition to making some of my favorite hot sauces Butterfly Bakery of Vermont has a very tasty line of mustards. Chipotle is a pepper I usually avoid in sauces because many combine the pepper with tons of added sugar and/or artificial or overbearing amounts of smoke flavor leading to sauces that taste very imbalanced to me. However Butterfly Bakery of Vermont has had an excellent track record for me, so I decided to give this mustard a shot.
In typical Butterfly Bakery of Vermont fashion their Maple Wood Smoked Chipotle Mustard has a simple and clean ingredients list (and a name almost as long as the ingredients list). Just six ingredients – Organic distilled white vinegar, organic yellow mustard seeds, organic yellow mustard powder, organic brown mustard seeds, maple wood smoked red jalapenos, and salt. The texture of this mustard is very much of the whole grain variety with nice big mustard seeds that pop as you bite through them and a nice thick consistency that spreads with a knife and clings well to food. The mustard seeds dominate the aroma but there are some hints of sweetness and smokiness from the peppers in the nose as well.
Maple Wood Smoked Chipotle Mustard thankfully doesn’t overdo it with the sweetness or the smoke. Using local jalapenos that they smoke themselves instead of prepared chipotle in adobo is likely the key here. Maple wood adds a subtle gentle smoke and the natural sweetness from that and the smoked ripe red jalapenos adds just the right amount of smoke and sweet to balance the pungent and bitter notes from the mustard seeds. Speaking of which there is a strong but not overpowering mustard flavor present. It’s a very natural mustard flavor with some bite and the peppery slightly bitter and pungent flavor mustard is known for without the intense nasal clearing sensation that some mustards can have. Overall this is a very balanced mustard with a great blend of smoke, sweet, bitter, spicy, sour, and that special flavor that only mustard seeds have.
My favorite deli meat is Boar’s Head Smokemaster Beechwood Smoked Ham. It’s another example of something using just a tad of smoke without going overboard and ruining the balance. It also has one of the best textures of any deli ham that I’ve tried, with a real meaty bite instead of any slimy overprocessed nonsense. Making a sandwich with that, some sharp cheddar, and this mustard turned out to be a wonderful combination. I also loved this with some fancy jarred tuna and sardines on some crackers. Stirring a little bit in towards the end of making a pot of beef stew also added a great depth of flavor and some needed piquancy.
This is one of the best spicy products using the chipotle pepper that I’ve tried so I’m happy to give this mustard my recommendation. Like all Butterfly Bakery of Vermont products this is all natural with no artificial preservatives, colors, flavors, or thickeners.
Ingredients: Organic white distilled vinegar, organic yellow mustard seed and powder, organic brown mustard seed, maple wood smoked Golden Russet Farm red jalapenos, salt
Heat Level: 1/10 This is quite mild with just a hint of a nice bit of warmth
