It’s July 12th already and I haven’t barbecued a single hot dog this summer. Shame on me. That appalling situation should be rectified asap. I don’t know about you, but I’ve always been a mustard and green relish guy when it comes to hot dogs. I have seen people put ketchup on them or any combination of the three. Now with the tariff trade war raging we’re supposed to make sure we are using the right brands of all this stuff. French’s is the number one mustard brand and that’s the one I remember most growing up. Canada is the world’s largest producer of mustard seed thanks to ideal growing conditions here on the prairies. We are also the world’s biggest exporter of mustard seed with more than half of it going to the U.S. (Side note: Canada was going to have mustard on the retaliatory tariff list but dropped it, which is good news for our mustard producers). So we don’t make the mustard up here but it’s made from our seeds. As for green relish, the brand we know most, of course, is Bicks. The company was started by George Bick in Ontario but Smuckers from the U.S. has owned it since 2004 and they stopped using Canadian cucumbers in 2012 when the processing plant was moved to Wisconsin. The only Canadian-made relish I could find on the ‘net was a brand called Strub’s which apparently also makes red hamburger relish. I sometimes put relish on top of the ketchup, mustard, onions and cheese if I load up my burger but I stick to the green kind. As the old saying goes, to each their own.

That’s Coffeetalk. I’m Vic Dubois.