Mustard Family Reunion

By: © Nelson Taylor 2008

Festival Location: Mount Horeb, WI, USA

Festival State: Wisconsin Festivals

Festival Type(s): Food Festivals , Bizarre Festivals

Every June since 1996, the Mount Horeb Mustard Museum has hosted a family reunion for anyone with the name Mustard or any foreign variant, such Senf, which is the German word for mustard.

Not a common name, only about 100 Mustards from coast to coast make the journey to meet distant kin and taste each other. The Mustard Museum houses over 3,200 mustards from all over the world, plus antique mustard pots, old mustard jars, magazine ads, etc. "Anything having to do with mustard in history we collect," says Barry Levenson, the museum's wacky curator.

Some of the best mustards on hand are medal winners from the World Mustard Competition, such as Rothchild's Raspberry Honey Mustard or Wild Times Farms' Romano Cheese Mustard. While you might think somebody would have created a hot dog flavored mustard -- you can now find hot dogs with chili in the middle -- Levenson says there's no such thing. "Just a lot of herbs, fruits, whiskies, single malt scotches and wines," he says.