Ask an Italian what they think ofla mostarda—a linguistic “false friend” for mustard—and be prepared for a strong opinion. A friend of mine introduced it to me over text  a while ago, when it appeared while visiting her family in Padova, but wasn’t sure how to describe it since she never eats it. “I don’t like it,” she mentioned. 

Though I’m an Italophile and foodie, always sniffing out a good culinary tradition, I was surprised not to have known much about this condiment. Research has revealed much about it, so let’s get one thing straight: mostarda is not mustard. While it sounds like it would be the same thing, similar to the French word la moutarde, the Italian word for the yellow condiment that we know of in English as mustard, which is derived from the seed, is senape. Mostarda derives from the Latin mustum ardens.