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We had a hard freeze this past week, so I and a friend are digging horseradish roots today. When we bought this place, it had two notable things - an old asparagus plot, and a huge horseradish plot that had been left to grow wild. We didn't even know it was there until DH and I cut the 6-foot weeds and cleaned out the trash from the side "yard" (about 1/3 of an acre). The horseradish was right in the middle.
Pray for me. Actually, pray for DH - he HATES horseradish, and the smell from processing is about to permeate the house!!!
I have to go downstairs and get some more vinegar first; then sterilize the jars... C ya later, after my sinuses are cleared!
Yikes... My mother used to dig and prepare horseradish. Taking about eye-bleeding, industrial-strength strong smells in the house! Never been a fan myself.
We had a hard freeze this past week, so I and a friend are digging horseradish roots today. When we bought this place, it had two notable things - an old asparagus plot, and a huge horseradish plot that had been left to grow wild. We didn't even know it was there until DH and I cut the 6-foot weeds and cleaned out the trash from the side "yard" (about 1/3 of an acre). The horseradish was right in the middle.
Pray for me. Actually, pray for DH - he HATES horseradish, and the smell from processing is about to permeate the house!!!
I have to go downstairs and get some more vinegar first; then sterilize the jars... C ya later, after my sinuses are cleared!
I love fresh horseradish. Nothing better for clearing out the sinuses from a cold either.
So SCGranny, what time will the prime rib be ready to serve up with that horseradish? What can we bring?
LOL Well, the $5 open-grilled steak supper here in town is scheduled for the 12th of November... everyone is supposed to bring a salad or dessert. Guess what I'm bringing!
Love fresh horseradish. With prime rib. With corned beef. What do you have to do to process it? I saw some guy on a cooking show who made a creamy horseradish sauce by merely slicing the root thinly and adding buttermilk (I think) and some spices then putting it in a food processor. I think he also put in some olive oil. Anyway, it looked good.
The MAJOR thing about processing horseradish is that you MUST add vinegar QUICKLY as it processes to basically stop the juice produced from eating through any and everything from your plastic blender to a cast iron stove. Once those little plant oils are freed by either grinding or blending in the blender, they go nutzoid and are extremely potent.
Here is the procedure to make basic horseradish sauce.
Get only roots that are smaller than your three fingers held together. Bigger ones are too woody and won't grind well. Scrub them well with a brush. Take a vegetable peeler and scrape off the brown root covering. Use a knife to get the deep spots, or cut them out altogether. At this point you will sniff the horseradish and think, "Granny's crazy. This ain't so bad!" You will cut them into small rounds or cubes, still thinking that maybe you have gotten a bad root, because it is so mild. DO NOT BITE THE RAW ROOT.
Fill your blender with water til it covers the blades. Put in enough horseradish to make the blender 3/4 full. Put on your heaviest blend/liquify cycle. STOP! DO NOT OPEN THE LID! Immediately after you start the blender, open that nice little thing in the top of your blender and add, all at once, at least six teaspoons of white vinegar that you have measured into a cup or glass already. Now. RIGHT NOW! Slam it shut and continue to blend it until it is smooth and creamy with just tiny tiny pieces. Do not open the blender until you have your jars (or whatever you are using - an ice cream bucket works as long as it has a lid). Pour the horseradish into jars and close them, and put them in the fridge. They will keep for 4 to six months like this.
To make a dip, you can spoon some horseradish into ranch dressing (or buttermilk) and shake or stir. To make horseradish sauce, you can mix it with sour cream or even mayonnaise. I chopped up a whole onion with half of my horseradish mix still in the blender and added basil; this will make a good dip later too. You can even mix it with cream cheese (a little sweet for some folks). But remember that your horseradish will keep longer in its natural state than it will if you put it into stuff.
When people say "process in a well-ventilated area" they are NOT kidding. Seriously, if you don't add the vinegar IMMEDIATELY after you start the processing, the chemicals in the root get stronger and stronger VERY quickly and can probably be used to deter armed invaders - rather like about ten skunks. Don't get any on you!
Ok, that "DO NOT BIT THE RAW ROOT" sounded like a dare to me. (Yeah, I was that kind of precocious child.)
So, what happens if you bite the raw root? Is there a story to that warning?
Why don't you try it and find out? Get back to us with the results.
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Actually, pray for DH - he HATES horseradish, and the smell from processing is about to permeate the house!!!
My mother used to dig and prepare horseradish. Taking about eye-bleeding, industrial-strength strong smells in the house! Never been a fan myself.
