Botanical Name - Brassica juncea/Brassica Nigra Category - Spices Form - Dry Part Used - Seeds General Information - Brassica juncea L. belongs to the mustard family (Brassicaceae or Cruciferae) and has numerous common names, such as brown mustard, Chinese mustard, and oriental mustard. The leaves are ovate or obovate, simple and petioled; the flowers of the raceme inflorescences are bisexual, with four free sepals and four yellow petals, along with two longer and two shorter stamens. In China, brown mustard includes the hybrids of Brassica nigra and other Brassica species that have brown seeds, while oriental mustard has yellow seeds. This annual herb originates from the natural hybridization between black mustard (Brassica nigra L. Koch) and turnip mustard (Brassica rapa L.) Phytochemicals- "Black mustard contains about 1% sinigrin (allylÃ?Âglucosinolate), a thioglycoside-like compound (a so-called glucosinolate) of ally isothiocyanate with glucose. By action of the enzyme myrosinase, allyl isothiocyanate, a pungent, lachrymatory and volatile compound, is liberated (0.7% of the dried seed). Besides allyl isothiocyanate, in Romanian Brown Mustard another related compound is found, namely crotonyl isothiocyanate (2-butenylisothiocyanate). Isothiocyanates are also the main ingredients of white mustard, horseradish, wasabi, rocket and cress, all of which belong to the same plant family. The more distantly related capers similarly owe their pungency to an isothiocyanate."
