Local Love is DayCloud’s new series celebrating the vibrant local business scene in our beautiful home city of Omaha, Nebraska. 

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Nebraskans could sell me anything.

I didn’t grow up in Omaha; in fact, I’m a very recent transplant as of 2022. I grew up in the mountains of Utah, a gorgeous state that I still very much consider home. However, there’s a pervasive air to Nebraska that’s a little hard to describe. It’s slow, settled, straightforward, down-to-earth. People here are friendly, easygoing, and seemingly always willing to carry on a casual conversation.

Oh, yeah, and there’s a pretty big emphasis on local business that gets me every time.

Sometimes, you have to admit to yourself that you have a problem.

Craft fairs, outdoor markets, and conventions are commonplace in a state where outdoor recreation is relatively minimal (at least in comparison to my home state), and I’ve taken full advantage of that because too much time inside makes me want to chew through drywall.  Unfortunately, that also means my fridge door has grown chock-full of local jarred goods.
Every time I head out to a new vendor event, I repeat a mantra to myself: “We have sauce at home. You don’t need another pepper jelly. Your girlfriend of 8 years is going to leave you if she has to rearrange the refrigerator one more time.”

And then I black out underneath those white vinyl tents on the street. And when I wake up, I’m holding a new jar of local artisan mustard, lovingly wrapped in brown paper, tied with twine, and freshly hand-stamped with a phrase akin to “made with love in Nebraska”. 

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SO. I’ve made a deal with myself. I’m not allowed to ATTEND any of these vendor events until I can clear out my fridge door. I’m notoriously bad at making time to eat during my workday, so before I got kicked out of my apartment with a relationship in shambles, I came up with a general plan: 

• Pick one condiment.
• Buy a bag of whole wheat carb balance tortillas
• Make a wrap every afternoon for lunch with whatever miscellaneous vegetables and protein I have on-hand. 
• Spread a few tablespoons of the chosen condiment over the inside of the tortilla to ensure regular usage. 
• Rinse and repeat, working my way through every jar until the fridge door is clear.
  
  

I’ve never had a problem with repetition; I love leftovers, and it takes a while before I’m tired of a meal. Therefore, I can say with confidence that this plan is working. 

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I’m proud to announce that I’ve worked my way through an entire jar of local Nebraskan sweet jalapeño mustard. 

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I initially purchased this jar from Robin’s Pantry at one of Blackstone’s Second Saturday markets, a few months after I started at DayCloud. It was one of the first hot days of Spring and everyone was donning their Summer best: flowing sundresses, cutoff denim shorts, floppy sunhats. Robin’s booth was perched amongst the others beside The Blackstone Mansion, and she was serving samples of each flavor on pretzel crisps. In addition to the original flavor, there were four variations: smoky, cranberry, green olive & garlic, and maple bourbon. 

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Even though the original flavor won out in the end, all five of them were delicious. Each sampler was displayed next to a list of potential uses – meat marinades, egg roll dips, potato salad mix-ins, cream cheese toppers – the options were inspiring as they were endless. I almost feel guilty that I only used mine for lunch wraps. 

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To describe the flavor as best I can: Andy’s Sweet Jalapeño Mustard packs enough telltale sweet mustard tang that I think it could make a worthy mustard substitute in almost any application. It just feels like one of those versatile crowdpleasers, to me. A “you could dip a shoe in this stuff and it would probably still taste good” type of sauce. 

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Unless you hate mustard – in which case, why are you still here? 

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I will say that if you’re seeking intense heat, you may come away wanting more. Sometimes jalapeño only brings some scoville SHUs and not so much pepper flavor, but I would say it’s the opposite in this case. The jalapeño zest really shines forward, and the heat is more of a mild whisper. 

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It also won a gold medal at the 2024 World-Wide Mustard Competition at the National Mustard Museum in Wisconsin… which is an event that exists and suddenly I think I’d like to take a trip to Wisconsin. 

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Overall, I love this stuff. “It’s fire, it’s goated, it slaps” as the kids my age say. I’m sad the jar is empty, but it’s time to move on… for now. 

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Robin’s Pantry products are available at Omaha farmers’ markets, Junkstock fairs, and various Nebraska in-store locations. You can learn more at https://www.robinspantry.com/. 

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Catch you next time!

With Local Love,

Keaton
Marketing Coordinator @ DayCloud Studios

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