Anybody know how the old saying, Too old to cut the mustard, originated?
I’ve never heard ‘too old to cut the mustard’, but ‘cut the mustard’ has been around since 1907 according to word detective.
If cut the mustard means to match the best, then being too old to match the best would logically follow.
It’s a classic. Rosemary Clooney and Marlene Dietrich version of He’s Too Old to Cut the Mustard Anymore (1952)
Ernest Tubb and Red Foley (1951)
“Cut the mustard” always struck me as a probable corruption of the military’s “pass muster” (meet requirements - usually physical, or pass inspection).
That’s one theory, but there isn’t any evidence for that form.
Quinion, a respected etymology columnst suggests:
As an addition–the OED now has examples back to 1891, and nothing to dispute the “mustard” useage.
Could it possibly be a question of misspelling a homonym… that “mustard” should be “mustered”…
The way I hear it, if one “can’t cut the mustered”, one lacks the necessary skill/ability to be called to that particular group.
As has been said before, there is no support for that form in print.
Why does the use of the verb “cut” imply “to match” ? Why not “taste the mustard” or “spread the mustard”? Mustard is not a substance I would normally associate with cutting.
Mustard is a plant that needs to be cut and harvested to make prepared or dry mustard powder or mustard greens. It makes sense, to me at least, that too old to cut the mustard means not able to do the job required.

If cut the mustard means to match the best, then being too old to match the best would logically follow.
I don’t think it does mean “match the best”, though; it means something like “be adequate to the task”. (Which is why the “pass muster” derivation at least makes some sense.)
Keen Mustard is a famous and long lasting brand of mustard from 1742.
So “keen as mustard” probably comes from there , at least contributing to its usage as a phrase, due to the double entendre related humour about the expression.
Now, if someone is not de-sensitised to mustard, one’s lower GI may be a bit irritated by it… Hence the double entendre… the hidden metaphore… The result may be one is as “keen as mustard”… to go ! And the result ? More mustard.
So “to put the mustard on” means “shit on”, and “cut the mustard” could mean … being able to fart without being incontinent.
I really think the origins of the three phrases is in the similarity between mustard and the result of eating too much… Now that spam isn’t so common any more, we might have forgotten the origins.

Keen Mustard is a famous and long lasting brand of mustard from 1742.
So “keen as mustard” probably comes from there , at least contributing to its usage as a phrase, due to the double entendre related humour about the expression.
The mustard brand was apparently founded by a guy named Keen, but keen also means “sharp” and by extension “pungent.” The OED has quotations going back to 1398 that describe certain herbs as keen, and mustard is certainly among the most pungent flavors.

Could it possibly be a question of misspelling a homonym… that “mustard” should be “mustered”…
The way I hear it, if one “can’t cut the mustered”, one lacks the necessary skill/ability to be called to that particular group.
I agree. This seems like the most likely answer.

I agree. This seems like the most likely answer.
The only problem with the misspelling explanation is, to have a misspelling you have to have many more instances where “cut the mustered” is is spelled correctly, which we just don’t see in the literature.