Honey Mustard Review: Wegman's Honey Mustard

Unassuming and affordable

National quarantine has taken my time, energy and conviction, but it has yet to seize my appreciation for the finer things in life: chiefly, some good mustard at lunch. Whilst it is no secret that HY has been on a very long hiatus, I am finally encouraged to return, riding upon the fervent praises of friends and family, to share a rather overlooked gem: Wegman's store label Honey Mustard.

What makes this mustard special enough to return to the hallowed halls of Hard Yellow? If you are familiar with my past work, you may remember a certain tirade about my issues with mass produced honey mustard. Many honey mustards manage to bastardize both parts of the equation, creating a sauce that has both lost its mustard flavor, and yet, none of the bee-syrup goodness of honey. Too often you are left with a product like Inglehoffer's, which, although their mustard is often supreme, leaves me disappointed with an off-yellow, runny sauce that is weaker than French's and no sweeter than a dijon. When I am sold a damned honey mustard, I want this sauce to at the very least represent one of the two it is made from.

Wegman's has managed this. Their honey mustard leans firmly towards the former of its namesake, producing an incredibly thick, sultry sweet mustard that finally satisfies my sweet tooth. You can actually pick out the tiny floral hints real honey carries, those little notes that tell you that yes, this is real. (Real in the lowest sense in that it is mass-produced without the actual magic of local beekeepers' honey, but I digress.) I've found great enjoyment with introducing this condiment to hams, darker & savory breads (like pretzels!) and more; much like how you use normal honey sparingly to not blow out your tongue with sugar spots, this mustard plays best at complimenting heavy flavors. I've even mixed it with hot sauce, which was a nice experience.

Hotness, however, brings me to my main qualm with this mustard. Nothing has changed in my hawkish perceptions of mustard containers, and I'm afraid Wegman's does not score high. The plastic container provides no slippage to ease the viscous mustard out; a wide-mouth glass jar would have been preferable. As well, I am disappointed in how it advertises this mustard as 'hot', when it is most certainly not. The mustard takes a back seat in this condiment: as I have shown, I am not cross with this, but I do hate false advertising.

In conclusion, this is finally a honey mustard that I would purchase again. This is not the pinnacle whatsoever - it could have reintroduced the actual mustardy heat it was missing for a truly wonderful thing - but it scores above any honey mustard I've seen before. All told, a 7 out of 10, and the impetus I needed to get back to my home here on Hard Yellow.

Coming soon: Inglehoffer's Creamy Dill!
Please leave any suggestions in the comments below!

Mustard Product Review - Strong & Kind Honey Mustard Almond Protein Bar

This stuff is amazing.

Just going to preface this review with that; honestly, start queuing up a shipment of strong bars on Amazon while you read this. It's legitimate mustard mana.

The Strong & Kind bars, which my friends and I fondly refer to as Strong Bars, are almond-based protein bars that are surprisingly good for you, and even more surprisingly amazingly delicious. If this were not a mustard blog, I would be praising the Honey Smoked BBQ and Thai Sweet Chili flavors too; luckily enough, however, the Honey Mustard flavor reigns supreme.

But wait, you may ask - Why in hell's name are you perusing a line of protein bars? Let me explain.

My good friend brought in one of these formidable-looking things to homeroom one morning, and my friends and I incessantly made fun of him for eating such an apparently disgusting thing as a protein bar; I will definitely give you that this thing has an initially off-putting appearance, but you'll get over it, or even grow to enjoy it with a certain love.
Anyhoo, he told us how great it was, and it quickly became the new fad, if you will, in our friend group of thirty-something. Nowadays, it's a cherished good that we celebrate in partaking in every time.

Unfortunately we couldn't complete the flavor quintet of Honey BBQ, Roasted Jalapeno, Hickory Smoked & Thai Sweet Chili without Honey Mustard, which was apparently so popular or amazing that our local supermarket either doesn't carry them or runs out of them immediately. Eventually, we decided to order them online. A week later, we indulged ourselves in some Strong Bar goodness.

And onto the actual review we go!

The Strong Bar, in all it's 45º angle glory!

Let's start with appearance. Like I said before, it's kind of endearingly ugly. It's just a cobbled together bar of a variety of protein-y things, with a strange sheen and a sticky texture. Honestly, on first contact with a Strong Bar, I thought it would taste pretty bad. However, I was wrong; the taste is quite nice. The almonds aren't too hard and dry, the seeds are tasty and crackly, and it's overall pretty good, even if you had it without flavor.

But here on Hard Yellow, all we care about it mustard!

The honey mustard flavor of the Honey Mustard Strong Bar is very strong. It's a firey sort of mustard, kind of like Colman's, just weaker. The honey aspect of the bar is quite refreshing, with a sweetness after the mustardy flavor. The aftertaste is a nice combination of the mustard & honey, which leaves you wanting more. Honestly, this is the tastiest health food you could ever ingest, folks.

So, mustardeers, I rate this bar at a 9.9 Strong Bars out of 10, just because it's not readily available. Go out and get yourself some Strong Bars, so you can become strong too.

Honey Mustard Review: Inglehoffer Sweet

The jar is so small. Yet so cute!

Ah, honey mustard. Despite it being quite good, I personally don't see it as much. It's main purpose in my eyes is to be a gateway for new mustard fans into the condiment jungle, not necessarily a great condiment. And unfortunately, this mustard has not proven me wrong.

I'm not saying this mustard is bad, of course; it's just that honey mustards feel a bit adulterated to my refined mustardy palette by now. But frankly, I just don't find this mustard living up to my past experiences with honey mustard either, when I was but a little tyke who ate macaroni and cheese for every other meal. I find the initial taste to be a little off-putting at first. I was taken a little bit aback; the stuff hit my tongue, and I was expecting an immediate, rich honey taste. What I got was a clashing honey and mustard. It did resolve quickly, but it was not a nice entry.

My other criticism is that the mustard was very thin. I'm accustomed now to the thick glory of strong, full-bodied mustards, so this came as a bit of a surprise. The mustard just seems to take a natural back-seat role to anything it's on. I didn't even taste it last time I used it.

And yes, I know, honey mustard is supposed to be used as a dipping sauce less than a spread. But this segways nicely into my next point - the jar size. It's a dinky little thing that makes you want to conserve the stuff, not use it as a dip at a party. The jar is pretty nice and distinctive, but come on! It's just too little.

I'd give this mustard 6 childhood memories out of 10. It wasnt bad, but I just didn't love it either. Stick to what you're good at, Inglehoffer - strong stuff.

Maybe in the future I'll find a good honey mustard. But for now, catch you again on Friday.