Mustard with Lemon

Lemon Mustard for Fish and Shellfish

Lemon mustard by Delouis is a medium-hot lemon mustard from Champsac, in which real lemons brighten up the heat. No artificial flavoring, just fruit in a jar – that is why it tastes like zest and not like candy.

Lemon mustard is a French lemon mustard from Maison Delouis made from mustard seeds, spirit vinegar, water, lemons, and salt. Its 12.5 percent citrus content makes it the brightest jar in our selection and the perfect companion for anything that comes from the water. Summer in a mustard pot, if you will.

Lemon and mustard are an obvious pair, as both work with acidity, just on different levels. The fruit starts off high, bright and sparkling, while the seeds follow underneath. What results is not a heat that burns, but one that awakens.

Lemon lifts, mustard carries

Medium-hot, bright, citric – this mustard does not push itself to the front; it puts the food in the spotlight.

12.5 percent lemon is enough to take away the heavy note that mustard otherwise brings along. The spirit vinegar covers its back: it provides the base acidity, while the lemon takes care of the aroma. Anyone who tries the straightforward Dijon Mustard by Bornibus alongside it will immediately notice how much air the fruit adds.

For fish, eggs, and potato salad

It goes well with everything you would cut a lemon for anyway: pan-seared fillet, shrimp, salmon, cold shellfish.

Hard-boiled eggs get more character with a thin spread than salt ever could, and it turns a potato salad into a summery dish rather than a heavy one. It also goes wonderfully with chicken, especially when served cold. For one of our tinned fish selections, all you need is bread.

In a vinaigrette, it replaces part of the lemon you would otherwise squeeze over the salad, and binds the oil at the same time. Stirred into a dip of yogurt and cucumber, it also pairs well with grilled vegetables. In summer, this jar ends up on our table more often than any other from our selection.

Gaël Brabant and the Champsac condition

When the Brabant family took over the company in 2004, there was one condition in the contract: Delouis stays in Champsac.

The village in Haute-Vienne is still the only production site, and the 24 employees from back then have grown to over 70, 40 of whom work in production. The company has grown, but it hasn't moved. "80 percent of our raw materials are French," says Gaël Brabant, and he doesn't mean marketing, but the farmers who supply his mustard seeds.

Vinegar has been made in this house for 140 years, and mustard for just under fifty of those years in Champsac. Some companies move to where it is cheaper. This one stayed where it belongs.

Take the pot off the heat first

The mustard seeds soak for two hours before being crushed and processed with the company's own vinegar – the lemon is added only afterwards.

Never stir it into a boiling sauce; take the pot off the heat first, because heat quickly turns the fresh fruit bitter. For a quick fish sauce, two spoonfuls of crème fraîche, one teaspoon of this jar, and some chives are all you need.

Once opened, it keeps for many weeks in the fridge, but slowly loses its lemony perfume – all the more reason not to save it. An opened jar is not a reserve, but an invitation. You can find more varieties in our mustard category.