Photos: Boetje's continues to produce well-loved 136-year-old mustard recipe
After 136 years, Boetje's Foods, Inc. is still producing it's tried and true stone ground Dutch mustard in Rock Island.Â
Owner and president Will Kropp poses for a photo at his desk at Boetje's Foods, Inc. on Monday, July 14, in Rock Island. Kropp took the business over from his father, Robert, and will eventually turn it over to his son, Harrison, who has officially been working with him for 18 years. His wife and daughter also help run the business.Â
Vintage Boetje's jars are on display in the front office in Rock Island.
Boetje's owner Will Kropp shows off a 1,000-pound vat of mustard seeds on Monday, July 14, in Rock Island. The entire vat will be ground up all at once to produce about 9,000 bottles.
Boetje's uses mustard seeds that are grown and imported from Alberta, Canada.Â
Will Kropp of Boetje's Foods, Inc., shows the first stage of grinding the mustard seed on Monday, July 14, in Rock Island.
An oak vat from the 1920s is uses to mix the ground mustard seeds, water, distilled vinegar, salt and sugar at Boetje's Foods, Inc. An oak barrel is used because vinegar's high acidity will eat through steel.
Owner Will Kropp shows where the mustard seeds are ground a second time with a pumice stone at Boetje's Foods, Inc. on Monday, July 14, in Rock Island.
Labels for Boetje's Honey Mustard are used during the bottling process. Local honey from Crandall Farms in Coal Valley is used to make the sweet mustard.Â
The four stages of mustard can be seen: starting as a plant, seed that has been harvested and cleaned, seed that has been ground, and seed that has been mixed with water, distilled vinegar, sugar, and salt.
The original Boetje's Dutch mustard recipe from 1889 is still used today using an Old World process to grind the mustard seed.Â
Will Kropp shows off the pumice stone wheels that are used to grind the mustard seeds at Boetje's Foods, Inc. on Monday, July 14, in Rock Island.
Boetje's Foods, Inc. & Mustard owner and president Will Kropp sits in front of a vintage sign as he talks about working with his family on Monday, July 14, in Rock Island. Kropp took the business over from his father, Robert, and will eventually turn it over to his son, Harrison, who has officially been working with him for 18 years. His wife and daughter also help run the business.Â
Will Kropp shows off a gold medal that was won at Napa Valley Mustard Festival in 2008, the first year he decided to enter the famous Boetje's mustard into a contest. That year, he beat out Grey Poupon, who had placed second.Â
Katelyn Metzger
Photographer/Videographer
Boetje's has used the same recipe since 1889.
