The National Mustard Museum, Middleton, Wisconsin (+43.0954, -89.5111)
This place was a fun place to visit on the 43rd parallel. It is located in a suburb of Madison, Wisconsin. There is no admission charge for the museum, but you will probably want to bring some money anyway. Donations are gratefully accepted, and there is a gift shop and mustard store.
The museum was established in 1986 from Barry Levenson’s small personal collection of mustard jars. They now have thousands of jars of mustard from around the world. In the basement collection, jars are sorted by state and country. I was impressed at the number of different brands and shapes of mustard containers.
There are some educational placards in the museum, but I am somewhat skeptical of the facts that were presented. For example, there is a card about “The Story of M”, which states that the yellow M&M was originally a tribute to mustard (see photo). There is definitely a tongue-in-cheek feel to the museum.
One display discussed mustard in medical practices, including mustard packs. Unfortunately, they missed telling about a classic film sample of mustard packs, The Three Stooges in “All Gummed Up”. This short from 1947 taught me everything I knew (incorrectly) about mustard packs. It is literally slapstick humor, and doesn’t seem very funny looking back on the film. You can see all you need to know by the screenshot below.
The museum was undergoing some renovations when we visited in May 2025, so some exhibits were somewhat incomplete.
A highlight of our visit was sampling some different types of mustard (also free). We enjoyed one mustard that is recommended for bratwurst, and bought a bottle for future use (Ringhand’s Beer Mustard from Evansville, WI).
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