It’s all things mustard in the Queen City

It’s all about mustard in the Queen City.

The Great Saskatchewan Mustard Festival gets underway Sunday at the Willow on Wascana.

From 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. chefs from across the city will be exploring mustard and mustard seed, creating dishes for the public to try.

“A lot of people don’t know that Saskatchewan produces about 70 to 80 per cent of the world’s supply of mustard. It’s actually a staple crop here for us, it’s real important to the farmers and to our economy,” said Darren Carter, co-founder and CEO of the festival.

When thinking about mustard, many people think about the yellow kind you put on hot dogs, but Carter said mustard is actually very versatile so the festival is a way to celebrate that.

“(There’s) a lot of different dishes. Some year’s we’ve had mustard ice cream, there’s lots of rubs … it’s a lot of fun, they come up with some pretty awesome things,” he said.

Chefs create dishes using the ingredient and the public gets to vote for the best dish, with the winning chef receiving a mustard chefs coat.

One price gets people through the door with unlimited samplings of each dish. Carter said there will even be activities for the kids.

Tickets are still available online.

Change of location

The Great Saskatchewan Mustard Festival is usually located in Wascana Park across from the Legislature building.

But with the Justice for Our Stolen Children Camp occupying the park, Carter said they decided to change the location to the Willow on Wascana.

“We want to respect (the protestors) rights to have their voice and what they think is correct so we want to respect that,” he said.

Carter said they didn’t feel forced to move and that the festival wants to recognize how important this issue is so they support the camps decision to have their voice.