Moutarde de Meaux from the Brie region east of Paris
Moutarde de Meaux is the mustard brand of the Chamois family from Nanteuil-lès-Meaux, who bottle the coarse-grained Pommery mustard according to a 1760 recipe. They also produce wine vinegars from the same company, which exports three-quarters of its products abroad.
Moutarde de Meaux is the mustard brand produced by Assaisonnements Briards in Nanteuil-lès-Meaux, just outside the gates of the ancient cathedral city of Meaux. This is where Pommery mustard is created from whole and ground seeds, sealed with a natural cork under red wax, just as the firm has been bottling it for generations.
From the Chapter of Meaux to the Pommery family
The mustard from Meaux belonged to the canons of the cathedral before it passed into the hands of a miller in 1760 and thus entered the commercial trade.
Charlemagne had tasked monasteries with growing mustard in their gardens, while simultaneously securing their mills and stone quarries. In Meaux, the Chapter oversaw the blend, while mills, abbeys, and canonesses argued over water and stone rights all around them. The recipe originates from this world, a history the pot still carries with it to this day.
In the eighteenth century, there were numerous mustard factories in the area, and the work was divided up early on. Some manufacturers owned their own mills, while others specialized in grinding and sold their flour to the mustard makers. Mustard was a staple in every kitchen at that time because it provided enough seasoning to give a dish its character.
In 1760, a dignitary of the Chapter passed on the secret to Jean-Baptiste Pommery, who operated a millstone quarry in addition to his mustard production. The mustard from Meaux had enjoyed the coveted privilege of being served on the royal table since as early as 1632, and Brillat-Savarin later called it the mustard of gourmets.
Mustard makers who succeeded the canons and worked on a larger scale have been documented in Meaux since 1771. By 1890, the Pommery family was the only one still producing mustard in the city, and in 1925, they handed over the production. The name remained, and so did the recipe.
The two original coats of arms still appear side by side on the pot today, along with an angel with a fanfare and the Latin motto of the house. Translated, it demands that this spice should rule over all foods—an astonishingly bold claim for a spoonful of mustard.
A vinegar house takes over the mustard
Assaisonnements Briards traces its roots back to the Vinaigreries du Lion, which was founded in 1865 in Lagny-sur-Marne and supplied the vinegar for this mustard for decades.
Founded by a Monsieur Mathon, the house passed to the Chamois family in 1890. It produced vinegar from white alcohol, as the north of France extracted from sugar beets at the time, while the south beyond the Loire derived its vinegar from wine. Whoever supplies the vinegar for a mustard recipe eventually comes to understand the recipe itself.
Thus, the production of Moutarde de Meaux moved to the vinegar makers after 1925, and there it has remained. Today, the Chamois family stirs the mustard in its fifth generation, from father to son, using the same blend of carefully selected seeds. The vinegar house of yesteryear has become a house for both mustard and vinegar.
The vinegar was never a secondary matter; it became the second product line of the operation. Alongside wine vinegar aged in oak barrels, there are now vinegars infused with raspberry and passion fruit, both available in half-liter bottles. Mustard and vinegar come from the same facility, and you can taste the one in the other.
Stoneware, natural cork, and red sealing wax
The stoneware pot with its natural cork and red sealing wax is the trademark of the brand and keeps the mustard protected from light and full of flavor.
The house uses fired clay and a cork made from natural, not compressed, bark so that the mustard can withstand long journeys. Red wax is poured over the cork, which is broken by a strip when the pot is opened for the first time. Two coats of arms, an angel with a fanfare, and the year 1632 decorate the curve of the pot.
In 2019, the World-Wide Mustard Competition, the largest mustard tasting in the world, voted Moutarde de Meaux the best variety in the coarse-grained mustard category. The recipe behind it has remained short: water, mustard seeds, spirit vinegar, salt, and spices—there is nothing else listed on the label.
The firm distinguishes between two types of production that every French mustard buyer knows. Sifted mustards pass through a fine sieve and become smooth, while old-style mustards retain some of their seeds whole. Pommery mustard belongs to the second family, and that is precisely where its grainy bite comes from.
Pommery mustard in a stoneware pot
From the house's range, we have selected the coarse Pommery mustard in a 500-gram stoneware pot for you, the brand's classic.
In France, the house also fills the same mustard into smaller pots; there is also a mustard with Cognac, a series under the name Petits Gourmets, and the wine vinegars in half-liter bottles. The coarse mustard in the stoneware pot is the best-known of these and the one that also finds its way onto tables outside of France. The small 100-gram pots are popular as souvenirs in France, but for a kitchen where a lot of cooking is done, the large container is worth it.
At our shop, it sits alongside mustards from Burgundy and Orléans, so you can easily compare the French schools side by side. How it tastes and what it pairs well with can be found on the Pommery Mustard page; the other varieties can be found in our mustard selection.
Outside the gates of Meaux in the Brie
Nanteuil-lès-Meaux is located sixty kilometers east of Paris on the Marne, in the heart of the Brie region, which also gave its name to the cheese.
Meaux itself is an ancient cathedral city and was once the capital of the Brie; it owes its name to a Gallic tribe that settled in the great loop of the Marne.
The city is home to over fifty thousand people today, and its cathedral has held the rank of a bishop's seat since the fourth century. Three-quarters of its products are now delivered abroad, to around forty countries from Iceland to Japan, and yet it has remained a small business. The heavy pot proves its worth on these long journeys, bringing the mustard through every climate.
If you want to get to know the brand, pair the coarse mustard with cold roast, poultry, and an old-fashioned vinaigrette. It handles heat just as well as cold platters, and the empty pot remains in the kitchen as a vessel afterward. Add a piece of Brie, and the circle is complete.
For those who prefer a sharper profile, there is enough to compare in the French world of mustard: the fine Dijon from Burgundy, the creamy mustard from Orléans, and this coarse one from the Brie. Side by side on a board, the three show how different the same seed can taste depending on how finely it is ground and what it is mixed with. The mustard from Meaux is the calmest of them all—the one with the longest memory and the heaviest container.
