Ah, Horseradish!
The Horseradish Plant
Last spring I planted horseradish in the garden. I planted a section of root and its green leaves, tightly bunched, grew over summer. With colder weather, the leaves died off and the root can be harvested. This past weekend, I dug out a small piece and set out to make my own prepared or preserved horseradish.
The Peeled Root
You can see the root at the top of the photo. First, I cleaned and peeled the root. It is a lot like a cross between carrot and parsnip. Then I diced it. Wondering how it tasted raw, I chewed a small piece of the root. It was like a flash of white lightning. Very sharp, coming on in a sudden burst, a bit like wasabi but different. I spit it out, and then immediately regretted doing so. It's cool-hot like a radish, but it really is a horse of a radish.
The Prepared Horseradish
Next I put the diced horseradish root in a food processor, added cider vinegar, and gave it a whirl. That's all it took. As you can see from the photo, the result is milky white.
Next time, I will try to grate the horseradish instead of dicing it. The chunks of the horseradish from the food processor were a bit too coarse.
Now, this prepared horseradish can be tasted as is, and it is tasty. I could also add the horseradish to ketchup with some lemon juice for shrimp. Honestly I could skip the shrimp altogether and just lap up the horseradish sauce. It's a nice ingredient to add to salad dressings, especially Asian style dressings. Of course, it's an ingredient in Bloody Mary mix. My favorite horseradish application, though, is on a good piece of beef, like prime rib. I don't know how it would mix with turkey but I might just try it. Let me know if you have any ideas.
According to horseradish.org, Dagwood Bumstead enjoyed horseradish regularly in the popular comic strip, "Blondie," created originally by Chic Young in 1930.
the latest
latest episodes
CAUTION: When hand-grating horseradish, please be very careful of the fumes that waft up. They are powerful and cause stinging pain in your eyes and nose.
When I was a kid and before my mom had a food processor, we grated our horseradish by hand. The grator would be blind-folded with a towel to protect the eyes and nose. A spotter placed at a safe distance would alert the grator when said grator's fingers would get too close to the sharp implement.
Whew!
I suggest pulsing the food processor a few times to get a finer consistancy. Also, when cooked, the horseradish gets a milder flavor and works well as a dressing/sauce for meat.
I love horse-radish, too. In 1990 I planted horse-radish that I got from Companion Plants in Ohio. I just looked, and they still sell Armoracia rusticana! I also remember that she warned against the invasive nature of the plant, and that warning is still there: "Isolate it from the main garden as it spreads vigorously from any root pieces you leave behind.". I had mine in a long and narrow garden that I could cover with a make-shift greenhouse of PVC hoops and visqueen in Winter. I used to place small heat-blowers at one end of the tunnel when the weather got really cold, and I never lost a plant from that garden!
It really did spread, too. It wasn't intractable, but I'll bet you will have a perennial supply of horse-radish, wherever you live.
mmmmm... horseradish. I like to make Reuben sandwiches with sliced turkey instead of corned beef, horseradish is great on those.
But I think what she was getting at (without really knowing the science) was that, by grinding the horseradish less finely, fewer cells were broken, exposing the volatile "heat"-producing enzymes to air (and heat), which breaks them down and reduces their pungency over time. (ref: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horseradish ) You then break open those cells as you eat it.
Anecdotally, I observe this to be true. If I buy the finely-chopped commercial horseradish it seems to lose it's potency in the refrigerator over the course of a couple months as I make my way through the jar.
If I go to the local farmer's market and get the local Amish-produced horseradish, it's coarser, and the "heat" seems to last longer.
If you grate horseradish, be sure to drink a big glass of tap water beforehand. This way, the fumes won't get you.
One of my favourite applications is the "tafelspitz"; gently boiled beef with horseradish and (usually) potatoes.
Yummy.
AgentBuzz beat me to the punch. But hell yeah, y'all better corral that plant before it gallops all over your garden.
You may love horseradish, but I'll bet you don't love it so much that you want to grow it exclusively.
#4, Yep, the local Amish stuff in the jar is the hottest and most flavorful I've ever found. The local grocer keeps it in the refrigerated section.
Yum! I've never tried fresh horseradish but they have it at my local grocers. My favourite way to use horseradish is to put it in a salad dressing (with lemon juice, olive oil and chopped chives) for a salad of lettuce, cucumber, grilled smoked mackerel and homemade croutons
My mom regularly sent me to school with peanutbutter and horseradish sandwiches for lunch... because I liked them! A culinary invention of my fathers...
Ah, horseradish. The gift that keeps on giving...There's a horseradish plant that's been at my grandparents' farm for as long as I can remember. Last month, my friend (who lives there now) harvested some from that plant. IIRC, Grandma went kind of lightly with the vinegar, but she pressure-canned it after processing.
i make my grandmother's wonderful, very 1950s recipe for horseradish carrots every year at thanksgiving (and a few other times besides). cut carrots into bit-size pieces or sticks, boil until just tender. use some of the carrot-boiling-water to rehydrate some dried onion flakes. mix horseradish (to taste) with bread crumbs & mayonnaise to create a paste. put the carrots, rehydrated onions, and a bit of water in a glass baking dish. top with horseradish/breadcrumb/mayo paste, sprinkle paprika to taste, and bake at 350 for 15 minutes or so. delicious!
Horseradish sauce under toasted cheese is remarkably tasty. It comes from Colmans, purveyors of popular heat, so it's not as painful as when grated fresh with vinegar.
I appreciate learning from the experience of other horseradish growers as well as the unique culinary combinations that have been suggested. Peanut Butter and horseradish, indeed!
Also, my plants are set off from the rest of the garden, and protected from gophers.
In World War Two my Mom, as a teenager, was an air raid warden and her kit included a gas mask. Facing the odious task of grinding horseradish she thought "Why, not?", donned the mask and ground a year's supply!
Horseradish without tears.
Smoked mackeral pate:
Smoked Mackeral + Cream Cheese + Horseradish + Lemon juice all mashed together with a fork.
Addition of garlic + chopped parsley are optional extras.
On Thanksgiving, you might want to add some horseradish to your mashed potatoes. Yum.
just in time for my holiday tradition - mama stamberg's cranberry relish (actually a craig claiborne recipe from the 1950's). the tang of the cranberries and the spark of fresh horseradish combined with the alarming pink hue of this relish both delights and repulses thanksgiving guests. it's amazingly yummy on everything from beef to baked potatoes. my photo essay and how to is a bit more fun that that at npr's website.
My German grandfather would plant horseradish along the side of the road in a weedy area just down the street from his house. He (and a few neighbors) would go dig it up whenever they needed any, and it didn't take up any space in his garden or need to be controlled. If you can find a patch of weeds near your apartment, townhouse, etc. you can grow it absolutely anywhere.
Growing up with a German mother, I have many fond memories of taking turns grating fresh roots until you were crying too much to keep going. Mmmm. Boiled beef and bread dumplings with creamy horseradish sauce FTW!
most wasabi you find in the US is actually a horseradish base plus some flavorings and green color.
Horseradish is actually rather good in chili.
If you have a food mill, you can run your diced horseradish through to make it finer.
Horseradish with or without beets is good with hardboiled eggs. That's a Polish tradition for Easter brunch.
As a kid I ground horseradish every fall with my grandmother. We ran it through a hand crank meat grinder, rather than grating it. We also froze it prior to grinding.
Freezing seemed to take some of the sting out of the fumes, and with the grinder, you could get off to the side so you weren't directly above the rising fumes.
Both of those helped a lot on the burning of eyes, noses and throats.
I second the Mama Stamberg's cranberry relish. It's been a tradition at our house for over ten years now. It's especially good on leftover turkey sandwiches.
After years of grating in agony, turns out that swim goggles are excellent barriers to toxic fumes. Still need the towel for the nose and throat though.
If I could recommend Horseradish Soup (recipe at Epicurious.com, just look up "Horseradish Soup") (don't be afraid to go heavy on the horseradish--and I switch the turkey out for bacon). It is the most delicious way I can think of to enjoy horseradish, especially during this time of year.
I just found out a new way to enjoy horseradish: mix it in with hummus.
Mix to taste with creme freche (or clotted cream for you Brits). Fantastic on roast beef or ham sandwiches. Even better with a little mustard.
I almost forgot - fresh horseradish makes the best Bloody Mary you will ever, ever drink.
Yummy horseradish!
Here's how you control the heat-
http://www.globalgourmet.com/food/egg/egg1296/prephors.html
I remember my grandparents adding ground apple to the horseradish root to cut the heat and to make it a bit sweeter.
A boiled pork or beef roast with some horsey sauce is it for me!
(reading the greenhouse comment)
I can't imagine you would need a greenhouse for horseradish, even up in Yukon. I live in zone 2 (central saskatchewan) and horseradish grows wild in the alleys and comes up in great bushes every year. It is in no way a sensitive plant, and thrives in very bad soil. Perhaps it does more poorly down south, but as an eastern european native, it is very happy in our cold, dry climate.
I admire the nice border in the pic, but it will be gone once that thing gets going; I have cracked plenty of handles coaxing horseredich out of the ground.
One thing - don't process more than you can use in two months. After that time the fire seems to go out of it quite rapidly.
I third the Mama Stamberg recipe. I'm making that one, plus a sweet cranberry relish for the wimps.
I like to eat horseradish out of the jar.
Horshradish is the condiment of choice for cold and flu season.
My grandpa used to make prepared horseradish from scratch. He claimed it was the blood from his grated knuckles that made it taste so good. I believed him; face it, at age 5 what did I know of horseradish other than it made the gefilte fish even more yummy?
A bit of horseradish makes for a good bloody mary.
How about a Blue Wasabi cocktail? It's saki, pineapple juice, blue curacao and wasabi.
You can swap out the saki for tequila, if you want more of your kick from the ethanol that the wasabi.
A bit of horseradish makes for a good bloody mary.
How about a Blue Wasabi cocktail? It's saki, pineapple juice, blue curacao and wasabi.
You can swap out the saki for tequila, if you want more of your kick from the ethanol that the wasabi.
Don't throe the leaves away! they're great (some would say indispensable) in making pickles.
http://books.google.com/books?id=UtA6-pyGJmMC&printsec=frontcover&dq=polish+heritage+cookery&ei=4ZIsScTYGojcygSdmOSkCA#PPA759,M1
I found a microplane grater to give the best consistency. You have to stand upwind of your work space, though. It came out with that super fine texture.
I grow horseradish in my backyard too. Watch out, it spreads fast! My favorite use is to grate it and mix with sour cream. This makes a great hamburger or steak topping.
Depending on the mechanics of your particular machine, you can get an extrafine grate out of a juicer. Just mix whatever percentage of the juice you want back into the pulp to get the consistency you desire.
BTW, juicers are also spectacular for jump-starting tomato sauce making at the end of the harvest. Instead of wasting a ton of energy cooking off the water in tomatoes on the stove, I juice them and put the pulp into a crock pot with the lid cracked (you have to have it on, though, or you get tomato splats everywhere) to cook down until it thickens up and tastes marvelous. OMG good. The juice doesn't get wasted, natch. Harvesting is thirsty work. :-D
I know it's the wrong season, but I have to say that the hotter the horseradish on a Hillel sandwich at Passover the better the Seder!!!
Also extremely nice as a sauce for "tafelspitz" is grated horseradish mixed with grated apple. Yum!
One of the best meals of my life was at the Schweizerhaus, a beer garden in the Prater Park in Vienna (just by the Ferris wheel from The Third Man).
We were travelling round Europe and hadn't eaten properly for a couple of days (we were poor students), but this place was fantastic: as soon as we sat at the outside benches, a pretty serving girl plonked litre glasses of draught Budvar in front of us and gave us the menu.
We opted for a huge, lovely chunk of Schweinfleisch served with Kren - this was a coarsely-grated, slightly sweet horseradish which complemented the roast pork perfectly. Trouble is, I've never found quite the same thing again.
Anybody got any ideas about recreating my great horseradish experience (short of losing twenty-three years, starving myself for a couple of days and visiting Vienna on a sunny September day...)?
My mouth has been watering reading through this post. But nobody's mentioned my favourite yet: horseradish on brussels sprouts. Just the thing for Christmas dinner.
And it's nearly December...
thhweinfleithh undt thauthageth?