I cannot seem to get my homegrown horseradish hot enough, it has that wonderful horseradish taste, but the "hot" is just not there. I emulsify the oldest part of the root that I possibly can get, combine some virgin olive oil and vinegar. But it just does not get as hot as I love to have it, like we eat in some of the restaurants. Anybody got a tip? I thought of maybe adding wasabi, but then, I don't actually like the green tinge of that. Anyone got a hot, hot recipe? Waiting for the burning mouth. Cindi
http://www.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/forums/showthread.php?t=19525 I take all the roots running off the main stem,scale them either with a knife or a metal scrubber. This ensures the horseradish is pristine white. This is done a few hours after digging. Chop about an inch long add vinegar in a blender. Presto , It will clear the sinuses plus. It is as strong as any wasabi plus it is white. A large root shoot is used for next years planting. Meaning I treat it as an annual, since two year old roots get woody.
Thanks, Durgan. Yesterday for our roast beef dinner I did indeed go into the very centre of the horseradish plant and dug out the largest root I could find. I treated it as you said, it was pretty hot, but still not as hot as to my liking, so I added a little of that Keen's hot dry mustard, man, that did indeed clean our sinuses. I am going to treat this perennial as an annual and start a few patches here and there. I have always used the older, very woody roots (of course taking a very long time to get to a consistency that is edible), not thinking to use younger, one year old roots. Can't wait for next year with my younger, hotter and pristine white horse roots. Any guesses on how long the mother root will keep in the fridge, once a piece has been cut off and prepared for dinner? Probably would be a good idea to simply just dig up some when needed (except when we are in the depths of icy winter), that does seem to be more of the roast beef time of our year. Chioux
I make my horseradish all at once, late September or early October Zone 5, and put it in five small jars about one-quarter of a liter each. This is so I don't have to open the whole to the air each time. Also, I put the required amount in a small serving dish so the jar is not open to air for a long period. The main tap root is discarded. It takes a bit of time to prepare due to the scraping, but is worth the effort. This year it has smooth texture. pure white, and as hot as I have ever had horseradish. The roots can be kept wrapped, but I see no point in this if one uses small containers. I suspect opening to air at each use causes some deterioration in flavour, and possible loss of some heat. I have two plant started in containers using one of the larger side roots, for planting in the spring of 2007. They haven't started surface shoots yet. I know they can be over-wintered oudoors in Zone 5, but why take the risk? I planted the one shown in the picture in the spring. The plant was purchased in a container from a greenhouse. The growth in the garden was stupendous, and supplies more horseradish than I can use. Durgan.
Durgan, where is the picture? I planted some of the roots of the horseradish dug out yesterday, I always cut the bottom on a slight angle, in case I get confused of which way is up. I planted these on a slightly moist ditch, maybe they will do well or not. Nevertheless, I will harvest horseradish revently no less than every other year, using TURKEY MANURE, my gardens were nuts using this soil amendment this year, so I will enrich, but as I believe, the root vegies need little water, so they will be deprevicated of this.....comments, please bring on. C.
