27 August 2007 Preparing Horseradish condiment. http://maiwe.notlong.com/ 27 August 2007 Preparing Horseradish condiment. There are two large horseradish plants. I dug up one plant and will prepare the other later in the season. These plants are difficult to dig up, and much effort is required to get the desired product - the roots. I treat the plant as an annual, and save a piece of root for next years growth. This plant can be invasive, and every small piece of root left in the ground will sprout. To prevent this I rototill extensively, and remove all remnants of root. The small seed root is put in a pot and allowed to grow until about August, then I put in in the ground to overwinter. Usually two plants are sufficient for the home garden. If treated as a perennial I find the roots are sometime too tough and fibrous. The smaller roots tend to have less fibre and beat up better in the blender. I simply cut the roots into small pieces and blend with vinegar in the blender. The excess vinegar is then drained away in a colender. The finished product is put into small 125 ml jars. If the product is in larger jars the flavour is reduced and the colour changes with each opening to air. A few roots produce a lot of product. From this plant, I obtained twelve 125 ml jars. http://www.durgan.org/Blog/Durgan.html
thank you for posting this!! i love using horseradish and i'd love to grow it and make my own - plus, for some recipes that i have, fresh grated is required. would i be able to plant a piece that i buy at the grocery? if so, what should i look for on the piece? for storage (after preparation) do you heat the jars or not? if not, how long are they good for (before being opened)? and do you keep them cold while storing?
Horseradish is so invasive and tenacious.... you should be able to grow from supermarket roots, look for finer root-hairs on the pieces. Otherwise, go to the countryside and look for the plant growing in the ditch, and dig it on up! If you're storing for any length of time, it's a good idea to heat the jars to vaccuum seal them. If not, it should still keep for quite some time, as you're basically doing a cold-process pickling.
I simply put the mixture in a jar without heating,and have kept it for over a year. Not many bacteria can grow in the vineger and horseradish environment. As mentioned the condiment is put in small containers so it is used up before being exposed to air repeatably to prevent discoloring and loss of flavour. http://www.durgan.org/Blog/Durgan.html
http://xaere.notlong.com/ 6 October 2007 Processing another plant of horseradish. The whole process is depicted.l This is the last of my two plants. The effort produced about four litres total from both plants. It sure is no joy extracting the roots from the soil. One must dig completely, since the small side shoots hold their place in the soil, and if pulled they simply break off.
