Boetje’s Mustard

Written by: Deborah Davis

Boetje's Mustard is a locally made with an Old World Dutch recipe. It has been stone ground and wood-aged since 1889 in Rock Island, Illinois. The recipe hasn't changed, and for the foreseeable future, it won't. I was fortunate enough to get a tour of the facility and see how and where one of the most famous products from the Quad Cities is made.

The vessel where mustard seed is ground and aged.

Located at 2736 12th Street in Rock Island, Illinois, the Kropp family has been making mustard here since they bought the business in 1983. Harrison Kropp is the third generation in the family business and operates as the Boetje's Production Manager and was the man behind the desk who showed me around.

The vessel where mustard seed is ground and aged.

Boetje's started in Rock Island in 1889 by a gentleman named Fred Boetje, a German immigrant who found American food to be a bit bland. He began making the mustard in his garage, then would sell it door-to-door by carrying a wooden box full of mustard around the neighborhood; if you had an empty jar, he'd fill it for a nickel!

Now the mustard is available in over 27 states and locally is in many Quad Cities stores and restaurants. It has quite the following. Recently the company has been putting out variations of the original classic. There have been two barrel-aged versions of the condiment, one done in collaboration with Mississippi River Distilling Company and the other with Bent River Brewing Co. The beginning of this year also saw their first Honey Mustard, a collaboration with a local beekeeper.

While Boetje's has been a local favorite for decades, the national fame has taken off with all of the awards they keep winning. In 2016 Boetje's won the 2016 Gold Medal at the National Mustard Museum. In that same year, then Mayor of Rock Island Dennis Pauley declared May 18th at Boetje's Mustard Day in honor of their win as Grand Champion of all Mustards in the World at the 2016 Worldwide Mustard Competition.

5000 Gallon Wooden Vinegar Tank from 1928

The Boetje's Facility is open for drop-in's from Monday through Friday, 8am - 4pm. That is the best bet of finding the variations as well as plenty of jars of the original mustard. (Whenever Boetje's has a special mustard release, the jars go in less than 10 minutes!) They also have shirts, recipe books, and other various mustard-related merchandise. It is a cool three-generation, locally-owned business and I highly recommend checking it out on Facebook too.