EASTPORT, Maine — If taste and flavor have a sound, this might be it: the rumble of four pairs of thousand-pound stones, grinding mustard seeds between them, creating a smooth, yellow cream that will become more than 30 flavors of Maine-made mustard.
At Raye’s Mustard Mill, they’ve been doing it for 120 years.
“We are the only operation of this kind left in North America,” Kevin Raye said, who together with his wife Karen, are the fourth generation of the Raye family to own and operate the mill.
Stone grinding, he says, is the old way of making mustard. Raye says it produces better flavor, and the process at the mustard mill is little changed from when his great-great uncle built it in 1903, to provide mustard to the state’s sardine canning industry.
“And people love to visit here and see and experience a very rare example of second industrial revolution machinery that’s still working every day, doing what it was intended to do.”
Watching the mill at work is a step back in time. The pairs of large grinding stones line one side of the old building, connected to each other by pipes and driven by large belts connected to pulleys on a central drive shaft.
That shaft was originally powered by a steam engine, and converted to electric power in the 1920s, Raye says. The multiple belts turn the stones and power the pumps that move the mustard mixture from a soaking vat into the first stones, then on to succeeding stones. Each grinds the mixture into a finer and finer consistency.
“As it passes through each of the stones it becomes thicker and creamier,” Raye explained.
When the mixture is done it is considered a “base,” to which a wide variety of flavors are added—everything from spices and herbs to beer.
Those varieties of mustard have become popular in stores and in online sales, so much so that Kevin and Karen Raye opened a gift shop in downtown Eastport, which gets lots of tourist visits.
“They learn about the authenticity of how we make the product, and we are a small family business. People like that, like to support that. People like local and we certainly are that,” Karen Raye said, explaining how the small business has become a tourist attractor for the small city of Eastport.
That success has bolstered the couple’s determination to ensure the mustard mill will stay in business and stay in Eastport in the years to come.
“These are the last manufacturing jobs left in the community,” Kevin said, “The last jobs associated with the historic sardine industry left in the community. And it's an important part of history and an important part of tourism.”
To make sure the business survives, they have formed a non-profit Raye’s Mustard Mill Museum, which will take actual ownership of the mill, the all-important grinding stones, and other parts of the operation.
This fall, they plan to break ground on a new museum building that would be erected around the existing mill. The Rayes and, at some future point, likely some younger relatives will own the mustard business, using the mill inside the museum to make it.
Karen says the museum will concentrate on fundraising, promoting tourism, tours, education, and other aspects of enhancing both Raye’s Mustard and Eastport.
“Because Raye’s Mustard is a great little company but it truly is a little company. And for us to do what’s needed to bring tourism to Eastport, the little company couldn’t do it all by itself, but that partnership with the museum will make a lot of difference.”
She says they have already received significant grants from banks and private donations, and continue to look for more financial help.
The goal, they say, is fairly simple: in a time when so many businesses are bought and sold, and classic Maine brands get sold and leave the state, they want Raye’s Mustard to always be in Eastport.
The entire mill as it now sits, complete with belts, pumps, and stones, will remain intact, and working, inside the museum.
“And now, after the whole sardine industry is gone, and has been gone for years, this little mustard mill is still here, still grinding mustard the old-fashioned way."
That will make mustard lovers happy, and Karen Raye says knowing the mill and its jobs are safe, and that this piece of Maine history is preserved makes them happy, too.
“It will feel good because we will know we have made a difference, and this will go on forever.”