The good folks at The People’s Pharmacy posted a report from a reader who used yellow mustard for relieving leg cramps. After swallowing a small cup of yellow mustard the reader said their cramps were “gone within seconds”.

Joe and Terry at The People’s Pharmacy said that some even keep mustard by their nightstand in case they are wakened with leg cramps. Other readers chimed in with comments confirming the effectiveness of our favorite condiment… so we’ll add leg cramps relief to the list of reasons we love mustard!

You can read the entire Q&A and comments by clicking here.

Also for National Pretzel Day, you may see on Facebook and elsewhere online that Quaker Steak & Lube in Middleton is giving away a hot pretzel to every customer on Pretzel Day, Thursday, April 26. For their mustard accompaniment (or for dipping) customers can select one of the National Mustard Museum’s signature mustards, Slimm & Nunne, available in Sweet & Nicely Hot, Maple Peppercorn and Habanero Horseradish. You will can purchase the mustards on sale at The Lube on Thursday for only $5 each (regularly $5.75) or $15 for the trio giftbox (regular price $16.95). Of course, you can buy Slimm & Nunne any day at the Museum or our online store.

Then to get May going, Lucky’s Bar and Grill on Regent Street in Madison is hosting a “Beer & Mustard Pairing” from 5-8pm on Wednesday, May 9, during Madisons Craft Beer Week. We’ve teamed with Lucky’s to pair 5 delicious mustards with 5 craft beers. The featured mustards will be available for sale at Lucky’s that night, or they can be purchased any time (of course!) at the Mustard Museum’s Gourmet & Gift Shop or online store. View the mustard and beer pairings here.

Click here to learn more about what’s going on for Madison Craft Beer Week.

The very next day, Thursday, May 10, Middleton’s Spring Wine Walk is from 5-8pm. Tickets for that event are sold out but the next night, Friday, May 11, kicks off the Mustard Museum’s extended summer hours. The Museum and Gift Shop will be open until 8pm on Thursday and Friday evenings for spring and summer. Come by on your way to Capital Brewery’s Biergarten to shop for mustards, chocolate & sweets, chutneys & spreads, hot sauces, oils, vinegars & dressings… whew! While you’re at it grab a mini dog, brat, or hot pretzel to tie you over. Even stop in if you’re having dinner in the area — there’s always room for mustard!

We look forward to seeing you this summer at the Museum & Gift Shop … starting tomorrow!

Call Lucky’s to reserve your spot, 608-250-8989. Click here to view an event flyer, or click here to learn more about Madison Craft Beer Week.

The mustards that will be featured with the beers will be on sale at Lucky’s that evening. Or, you can buy them now at the Museum Gift Shop or our online store. The featured mustards are below, along with their craft beer pairing.

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BEER & MUSTARD PAIRINGS

Earth & Vine Tangerine Habanero Mustard, $9.50 (EVN100) — paired with Blue Moon Belgian Style Wheat Ale

3 Monkeys Sweet & Spicy Mustard (2012 Grand Champion), $8.25 (TMM100) — paired with Leinenkugel Honey Weiss

Robert Rothschild Blue Cheese Dijon, $7.75 (RRT134) — paired with New Glarus Hop Hearty IPA

Slimm & Nunne Habanero Horseradish Mustard, $5.75 (SLN120) — paired with Lake Louis Warped Speed Scotch Ale

Galena Canning Company 911 Spicy Hot Mustard, $6.75 (GAL101) — paired with Peroni International Style Pilsner

Nearly 300 mustards from as far away as New Zealand, Japan, and Sweden competed in the 2012 World-Wide Mustard Competition. We first picked the medal winners through a series of tastings at the National Mustard Museum.

We then took the Gold Medal mustards to the annual meeting (right) of the Windy City Chapter of the American Culinary Federation for the Grand Champion taste-off — the Curator is pictured with Michael Garbin, executive chef of the Union League Club of Chicago and president, Windy City Chapter of the ACF. Thirty-two of Chicago’s finest chefs and culinary professionals swooned their way through the seventeen top mustards to select a Best-of-Show 2012 Grand Champion.

You can view all of the medal winners in this comprehensive list (including the 2012 GRAND CHAMPION), or click here for the official Museum press release.

Now, bring home the mustards!

So, what’s the best part of all of this? We’ve collected up as many of the medal winning mustards as we can, and most of the 2012 Medal Winners are available in our online store. So bring them home and see for yourself how delicious these award-winning mustards are. We’ll continue to add medal winners as they become available. Enjoy!

ALK100 Aunty Lilikoi’s Passion Fruit Wasabi Mustard reg. $10.25 – SALE $8.20

ALS100 Alstertor Dusseldorf Style Mustard reg. $6.25 — SALE $5.00

ARN101 Arran Original Mustard reg. $7.75 — SALE $6.20

BEF100 Bald Eagle Pub Beer Dipping Mustard Sauce reg. $7.75 — SALE $6.20

BJL104 Ben Jack Larado’s Goldstone Garlic Mustard reg. $6.75 — SALE $5.40

BMG100 Baumgartner’s Horseradish Mustard reg. $6.25 — SALE $5.00

CHC100 Cherchie’s Champagne Mustard reg. $6.75 — SALE $5.40

DDC100 Daddy Cook’s Sunrise Bloody Mary Mustard reg. $8.25 — SALE $6.60

EFL109 Edmond Fallot Moutarde a la Provencale reg. $6.25 — SALE $5.00

EVN100 Earth & Vine Tangerine Habanero Mustard reg. $9.50 — SALE $7.60

FNW101 Food & Wine Sweet Hot Beer Mustard reg. $6.25 — SALE $5.00

FWZ100 Fischer & Wieser Smokey Mesquite Mustard reg. $7.25 — SALE $5.80

JLK100 Jolokia Ghost Pepper Mustard reg. $10.00 — SALE $8.00

TRV75 Lusty Monk Mustard Trio reg. $24.95 — SALE $19.95

LOW100 Lowensenf Extra Hot Mustard reg. $7.75 — SALE $6.20

MUI400 Muirhead Pecan Pumpkin Butter reg. $8.50 — SALE $6.80

RAY108 Raye’s Winter Garden (Dill) Mustard reg. $5.75 — SALE $4.60

SYM105 Saucy Mama Tarragon Lemon Mustard reg. $5.25 — SALE $4.20

TNC100 Thats A Nice Sicilian Olive Mustard reg. $6.25 — SALE $5.00

WVM100 Willamette Valley HoneyDill Mustard reg. $5.75 — SALE $4.60

You can even make a tax-deductible $20 donation (20YEARS) to the nonprofit National Mustard Museum in honor of our twentieth anniversary.

Reinhold Schlegelmilch began making porcelain table pieces as early as the 1860s in Suhl, Germany (State of Prussia). His mustard pots have become legendary. C.L. Riley, one of the country’s most accomplished RS Prussia collectors, is generously donating his vast collection of mustard pots to the National Mustard Museum. We expect to have them on site by the end of April and, after photographing and cataloging them, we will begin showing them in May.

Mustard pots of this quality and significance need a good home. It will take about $10,000 to transport these pots to Wisconsin and properly place them in new exhibit cases. If you would like to help sponsor the Riley RS Prussia Exhibit (a new permanent exhibit), please contact the Curator.

This brief article makes that very point. The texture and flavor burst from mustard seeds can turn the bland into the sublime. Read more at thekitchn.com by clicking here.

They suggest simmering yellow and brown mustard seeds in a mixture of vinegar, sugar and salt for almost an hour. While some posting comments weren’t sure where to get mustard seeds, we thought, “DUH! Get them at the Mustard Museum!” : )

Here’s some links to the mustard seeds and some other prepared mustards from Ireland, perfect to top off that corned beef & cabbage for St. Pat’s!

Whole Brown Mustard Seed

Whole Yellow Mustard Seed

Lakeshore Wholegrain Mustard With Whisky

Lakeshore Mustard With Guinness Stout

The Lakeshore Duet

One of our most popular mustard varieties has always been the sweet-hot mustards. As you dip, dollop or dunk your pretzels, etc., into a jar of your favorite honey or sweet-hot, there are a lot of other ways to enjoy these mustards you should consider.

Some of these suggestions may surprise you but real mustard lovers are fearless. Although this style of mustard is ideal for pretzel dipping, sweet-hot and honey mustards go with many other foods. The possibilities for these mustards are boundless, but we really like the following ideas. Try them all.

What’s your most outrageous sweet-hot mustard mate? We’ll share it with Mustard Nation if you email your favorite to the Curator.

• Slather on your morning donuts
• Add some crushed red pepper and dunk your egg rolls
• Spread on a stinky cheese sandwich (fabulous with limburger on rye with raw onion)
• Drizzle it on baked squash
• Drench your chicken nuggets
• Use instead of jelly for a peanut butter and mustard sandwich (“PB&M”)
• Top off a toasted English muffin or bagel
• Schmear on a turkey or ham sandwich
• Mix with marmalade for a dynamite glaze for chicken or pork
• Pour some on cheese cake

More details will be worked out, but things are really coming together so plan for this once-in-a-lifetime trip on October 3 through October 15, 2012.

The exclusive Mustard Tour, in conjunction with Outta-Here! Travel, includes just about everything you could want. Highlights include:

• round trip air fare from Chicago,
• four-star hotel accommodations (12-nights),
• all breakfasts and most dinners,
• private tour motorcoach,
• luggage handling,
• welcome reception at Colman’s (Norwich, England),
• first weekend in London,
• take the Chunnel to France,
• dinner and wine tasting in Champagne,
• four days in Burgundy (includes Dijon),
• tour of the Fallot Moutarderie (Beaune, France),
• meet world-renowned mustard expert and author Robin Weir,
• the last weekend in Paris.

Space is very limited so contact Mrs. Mustard or call Outta-Here! Travel at 866-593-1313 for information. The Tour is $4,799 per person. If you prefer to travel to Europe (meeting us at the airport in London on Oct. 4) from a different U.S. city, contact us; cost of trip will be adjusted accordingly. Limited to 24 mustard lovers! Viva la moutarde!

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Use the form below to sign up for updates about the 2012 Grand European Mustard Tour.

Errrr, make that Texas Hold ’Em — right here at the Museum!

Support the nonprofit National Mustard Museum by playing in our Elm Farm Ollie Day Texas Hold ’Em Tournament on Saturday, February 18, from 6:00 pm until . . . well, until the cows come home (about 11 pm).

Click here to let all of your Facebook friends know you’re planning to attend!

Even if you’re not a poker player, you can enjoy tasty appetizers and snacks and other fun diversions, including a full-contact Mustard Ring Toss Tournament (“Hoops for Koops”) and various board games.

Just $10 gets you in the door, and another $15 will save you a seat at the poker table. It’s a good cause on a glorious day…

… and thank you to our event sponsors: Klements Sausage, University Coin, and Liliana’s Restaurant! (see below for more sponsors and supporters)

To guarantee your seat at the poker table EMAIL THE CURATOR or sign up on our Facebook event by clicking “Join” — or just call, 608-831-2222. Everyone who plays wins a prize.

The tournament winner will get his or her picture immortalized forever. Their portrait will be framed in a POUPON U toilet seat and displayed in a place of honor at the Museum. And a they’ll receive a POUPON U Toilet Seat to take with.

Disclaimer: this is not a gambling event. No portion of the entrance fees or donations will be paid out to players. All prizes are donated items and gift cards from area businesses.

Thanks to these Sponsors and Supporters:

Bucky Book
E Z Office Supply
Full Compass Systems
Klement’s Sausage
Liliana’s of Fitchburg
Madison Computer Works
MustardMuseum.com LLC
Quaker Steak & Lube (Middleton)
Sofra Bistro
University Coin & Jewelry
L&L Foods
Shannon Matthews Salon
Bald Eagle Foods
The Brady Family
Top Promotions
G J Ring