The use of the mustard herb plant dates back 5000 years! It has been widely used as a culinary and medicinal herb. Yellow mustard seeds grow quickly and easily. Chinese herbalists used the yellow mustard to treat lung conditions like asthma and bronchitis as well as relieve the symptoms of arthritis. Yellow mustard is native to middle Asia, northern Africa, and the Mediterranean. It has the mildest flavor, but it is the most common and grown commercially throughout the United States for the production of prepared mustard we will all love on hamburgers!
Yellow mustard plants have sturdy stalks with wrinkled, lobed, and dark green leaves. Yellow, 4-petaled flowers appear on spikes in early summer. Both the yellow mustard seed and the greens of this herb plant are used. The greens can be cooked or steamed, but as the summer gets hotter, the greens get stronger with a bitter taste. Often gardeners plant two crops to keep a supply of the young greens. The seeds comes in the summer heat as the plant bolts. Yellow mustard is a prolific self-sower. Harvest the seeds to prevent them from falling on the ground and producing too much growth for next season.
