Mustard time

 If you’ve driven through wine country lately there is probably something in the vineyards that you have noticed. This is the time of year that mustard plants are thriving in the vineyards. Their colors in the setting of the vineyards are particularly beautiful but did you know that there is also a benefit to using mustard plants in the vineyard. I sat down with my dad, John Bacigalupi and talked with him about the advantages.

“You can actually eat the bloom of the plant. It’s kind of hot and spicy like eating a radish. My understanding is it started out as a government subsidy to farmers who planted mustard in their vineyards. The tap root (a long root) of the mustard plant would open up the soil and aerate it. The plant produces a great amount of green matter that would be disked into the soil to replace organic matter. Farmers have been experimenting with planting mustard in vineyards for many years to get the natural chemicals from the plant into the soil and lower the Nematode counts. Nematodes are microscopic worms that live in the soil; some are beneficial and some are harmful and can carry diseases. We use mustard as a cover crop in several of the vineyards that tend to have more nutrient deficient soils. The plants will be present in the vineyards through late March.”

Every year the Napa Valley Mustard Festival celebrates the mustard plant featuring fine foods, local wines and of course all kinds of mustard.