Pass the Mustard – and Get a Peek at July’s Gourmet News
Since 1992, the National Mustard Museum has been celebrating National Mustard Day on the first Saturday in August, paying tribute to the Greatest (Condiment) Of All Time. Hubbard Avenue in front of the National Mustard Museum in Middleton, Wis., will be the scene with hot dogs and bratwursts, mustard ice cream, hot soft pretzels, mustard tastings, live music and mustard games for kids of all ages on Saturday, Aug. 6.
Live music begins on the French’s Music Stage at 10 am with The Blue Accordion. Madison’s own Black Star Drum Line will rock the streets with its heart-pounding precision beats at 11 am, followed by afternoon headliners The Dawg Bones. At the Family Tent, the popular Kids Are People Too! will delight the crowds with interactive rock ‘n roll shows, and everyone will want to take part in the new “Pie-Walk” (better than the old-fashioned “cake-walk”) sponsored by the Hubbard Avenue Diner.
Usinger’s of Milwaukee returns as the official sausage sponsor of National Mustard Day. There will be plenty of mustards to slather on your dogs and brats. A special addition this year will be mustard-flavored ice cream from Chocolate Shoppe Ice Cream Company. New activities include a portable rock climbing wall and a mustard speed pitching game. Can you cut the mustard?
Renowned New York artist Steven Marcus will be inside the Museum with his new exhibition of fanciful mustard art.
Details of all the activities and a schedule are online.
The National Mustard Museum recently concluded the annual World-Wide Mustard Competition and on Mustard Day, visitors will have the opportunity to taste many of the medal winning mustards, including the 2022 Grand Champion Tiger Tail Curry Mustard.
The nonprofit National Mustard Museum holds the world’s largest collection of mustards (more than 6,500) and mustard memorabilia. Mustard lovers will have the opportunity to buy the museum’s book, The Art of Mustard, with more than 600 pictures of objects and artifacts in the museum collection. The popular game, Please Pass the Mustard!, will also be available for sale, as are hundreds of mustards and other gourmet foods.
For those unable to attend the festival, the museum will launch a Mustard Day YouTube video, with mustard greetings from around the world, on the morning of Aug. 6. the museum will also host a live Mustard Day Zoom at 5 pm CDT on Aug. 6. Details and links will be available on the Mustard Museum’s web sites, www.mustardmuseum.com and www.mustardmuseum.org, the week before Mustard Day.
In the July issue of Gourmet News: More on the National Mustard Museum and its coveted condiment. The issue will be posted online on July 1. Remember to subscribe so you don’t miss fun features as this!
Winter Honey Bees Show Resistance to Common Insecticide
Honey bees feed on imidacloprid during a cage experiment. (ARS photo)
Winter honey bees have a better ability than newly emerged summer bees to withstand the harmful effects of a widely used insecticide in pest management, according to a recent study published in Apidologie.
U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service researchers from the Bee Research Laboratory in Beltsville, Md., found winter honey bees’ consumption of a nearly lethal, imidacloprid-laced syrup did not affect their survival during the study.
Imidacloprid is an insecticide made to mimic nicotine and is toxic to insects. This powerful insecticide is widely used in agriculture for pest management control. Honey bees are likely to encounter imidacloprid while foraging in the field or through contaminated hive products.
“Although imidacloprid toxicity to honey bees is an important concern for beekeepers, our results provide good news,” said researchers Miguel Corona and Mohamed Alburaki. “Our research shows that winter honey bees have unrecognized physiological mechanisms to counteract the effects of insecticides.”
The study assessed differences in diet behaviors for summer and winter honey bees in a controlled laboratory setting. Researchers provided sublethal doses of the imidacloprid-laced syrup to bees as necessary. Winter bees showed a preference to consuming imidacloprid-laced syrup over untreated sugar syrup while summer honey bees made the safe choice and avoided consuming the laced syrup each time.
Corona said it is important to study the differences of summer and winter honey bees’ diets. Honey bee colonies survive extreme seasonal differences in temperature and forage by producing two seasonal phenotypes of workers: summer and winter bees. These seasonal phenotypes differ significantly in their psychological characteristics as well as their susceptibility to disease and ability to handle poisonous substances.
“Winter bees and summer bees undergo physiological changes to cope with drastic seasonal changes in temperature and the availability of nutritional resources,” the researchers said. “Our results suggest that long-lived winter bees are especially well-adapted to tolerate higher levels of chemical stressors.”
Corona said that although the study’s results show that winter bees could tolerate more intoxication by imidacloprid, they are still susceptible to higher concentrations of this insecticide in field settings.
The Agricultural Research Service is the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s chief scientific in-house research agency. Daily, ARS focuses on solutions to agricultural problems affecting America. Each dollar invested in agricultural research results in $17 of economic impact.
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Sprouts, Jennie Finch Partner to Promote Women’s Athletics, Health
Sprouts Farmers Market today announced its long-term commitment to and investment in women’s athletics through partnerships with the Big 12 and Pac-12 Conferences, along with supporting 50 individual Name, Image and Likeness deals with female athletes from multiple schools from both conferences. Sprouts is the first grocery retailer to make this commitment, and is doing so alongside softball icon Jennie Finch.
“Sprouts is the place where goodness grows, offering delicious foods that nourish both families and athletes,” said Jack Sinclair, chief executive officer of Sprouts. “Through the partnerships with the Pac-12 and Big 12 Conferences and their member universities, and alongside Jennie Finch, we pledge to continue to empower and educate women’s health and performance, bringing fresh and nutritional food options to them on and off the field. We’re proud to sponsor these great female athletes.”
This announcement coincides with June 23rd, the 50th anniversary of Title IX, which prohibits sex-based discrimination in schools and educational programs.
“Sprouts truly is where goodness grows. Its commitment to female athletes and women’s college athletics is a wonderful way to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Title IX. I’m grateful to be part of this initiative and the tremendous work Sprouts is doing as a company to make the world a healthier and more equitable place,” Finch said Jennie Finch.
“As we celebrate the 50th anniversary of Title IX, we are reminded of the progress that has been made in women’s sports over the past five decades,” said Timmi Zalatoris, senior vice president of human resources at Sprouts. “When we think about the next 50 years of gender equality, Sprouts is committed to building on this momentum and remains invested in growing and changing the landscape of women’s sports for years to come.”
In addition to these new partnerships, Sprouts is a proud partner of Los Angeles’s newest women’s professional soccer team, Angel City FC. Sprouts and ACFC support local causes that address and provide children’s nutrition education and fresh food access throughout LA.
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