Middleton, WI - The judges have tasted and the judges have selected the top mustards of the 2016 World-wide Mustard Competition. This year's Grand Champion is Boetje's "Dutch" Stone Ground Mustard from Rock Island, Illlinois.

Held under the direction of National Mustard Museum Curator Barry Levenson, the competition drew nearly 300 entries in eighteen flavor categories from as far away as Germany, Norway, Sweden, France, and Japan. Judges tasted the mustards "blind," not knowing if they were tasting popular inernational brands or small boutique mustards. Judging took place over a period of several weeks at the Mustard Museum in Middleton, Wisconsin, where chefs, food writers, restauranteurs, and mustard aficionados gathered to pick the metal winners and the Grand Champion.

Boetje's, the 2016 Grand Champion, won the Gold Metal in the Whole-Grain category and is the first Whole-Grain Medalist to earn the Grand Champion award in the competition's 22 year history. "Texture was obiously key to Boetje's success," said Levenson, "but what impressed the judges most was the bold, bright flavor of the mustard, often lacking in whole-grain mustards."

Made in Rock Island, Illinois, since 1889, Boetje's has been a Quad Cities' favorite for generations. Will Krupp, the current owner of Boetje's, continues to make the mustard in the same way as founder Fred Boetje made it, according to the same, simple recipe (consisting of all natural ingrediets: mustard seed, water, vinegar, sugar and salt).

 

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