Starting in May, ads for French's mustard will encourage you to not only slather the condiment on your food but to put it in your recipes as well. The series of print and television ads feature foods other than picnic fare with the tagline, "Friends. Family. French's." When Consumer Reports tasted 11 mustards it judged French's Classic yellow mustard to be very good. We also found some tasty Dijons, a type often called for in recipes.

French's yellow mustard already commands almost 27 percent of the market, according to the New York Times. Still, the company would like shoppers to think of using mustard beyond the summer months. "First you want to remind people to use mustard like they've always done, but additionally you want to inspire them to use it differently," Paolo Zotti, vice president for marketing in the food division of Reckitt Benckiser, told the Times. That way French's will be "top of mind" all year round.

To inspire cooks, French's campaign sends consumers to its Facebook page to find new recipes and share old ones and also to the recipe database on French's website where there are hundreds more. Meatloaf anyone? Or Cuban rice and black bean salad?

In Consumer Reports' mustard tests, tasters tried five yellow and six Dijons plain and then on a ham sandwich. None of the mustards was complex enough to be excellent, but Gulden's yellow and French's Classic yellow were judged very good, as were five of the Dijons. In general, yellow mustards tend to be mild and slightly sour, while Dijons tend to be more intensely flavored. The lower-rated mustards, whether yellow or Dijon, tended to be more simple and sour.