The competition is held under the auspices of the National Mustard Museum, a 501(c)3 nonprofit institution dedicated to promoting the condiment that means so much to us all. Mustards from around the world have entered over the years —from Japan, Australia, New Zealand, France, England, Germany, Poland, Slovenia, Sweden, Denmark, Ireland, South Africa, Canada, the United States, and more.

As founder and curator of the National Mustard Museum, I have been coordinating the judging of this prestigious international tasting since its inception in 1995. It is a blind tasting, so the judges have only unlabeled mustards in front of them. They do not know if they are sampling the mustard of a large international company or that of a small artisan moutardier. We bring together chefs, food writers, other food professionals and mustard aficionados to carefully evaluate the mustards. As you can imagine, it is a daunting task but one that our judges take very seriously.

There are 17 categories (view details) of mustard to be tasted and scored. Examples of categories are Honey, Dijon, Spirit, Hot Pepper, and Exotic mustards, as well as mustard-based Dressings and BBQ Sauces.