Horseradish

[Lindsey]

Have a very promising crop of horseradish this year and would like some advice on how to preserve it keeping its flavour and strength.

[Jonathan Kaplan]

One idea I didn't see above -- Horseradish "consume". puree horseradish w/ a bit of water, add about 1/2 of 1% gelatin by weight (soak gelatin in water, heat to dissolve, than add to the puree), freeze, then thaw in 'fridge in cheese-clothe lined strainer over bowl (when doing horseradish, put that whole thing into a bag to keep it from stinking up the 'fridge!). You'll end up w/ a clear liquid that tastes like horseradish, doesn't have quite the bite of horseradish, but makes a *fantastic* medium for e.g. poaching fish, vegetables, etc. And the consume freezes well for future use. I love the stuff and try to always keep some around...

Jonathan Kaplan

[heidih]

I have a friend whose horseradish is taking over a large garden section. She has never used it. My plan is to offer my labor in exchange for some roots. I will try some of the variations noted above. My question is about the greens. We are in late spring early summer here in Southern California and the tops of the horseradish were about the size of daikon leaves a few weeks ago. Has anyone experimented with the greens. I did "google" around but am wondering about eGullet experience. I hate to toss lush looking greenery.

[Chris Hennes]

I have never actually eaten the greens, but did notice the other day that they smell like horseradish still, though not so pungent. Did you ever do anything with them, Heidi?

[heidih]

My friend's gardener weed-wacked the greens before we got to them in an attempt to "help her". Will try to get down on Sunday and see if we can play with the roots. It has been a few weeks so there may even be tender greens coming back.

[Chris Hennes]

Well, you made me curious, so I just went out to the garden to give it a try. I only ate it raw, and I tried one young leaf and one old one. I was a bit surprised by the result: the young leaf had had a clear horseradish flavor, though minimal bite, and a quite bitter finish. The texture was similar to bibb lettuce. The older leaf was much sweeter, and tasted only faintly of horseradish. It had a long lingering finish that was reminiscent of the root, however, and minimal bitterness. Its texture was similar to chard and the like. Personally I preferred the older leaf, at least raw, as a salad green.

[heidih]

So at a minimum they are an interesting edible salad green. Who know- maybe a pesto style prep?

[Smithy]

I found this topic yesterday while looking for advice on how to make horseradish sauce. The top entries in a general Google search all turn up recipes for horseradish sauce that all include prepared horseradish! I had young roots that a friend gave me from her garden. I peeled a root, grated it with a microplane, then began mixing. A bit of horseradish. A bit of white vinegar. Whoops! too much liquid! More horseradish. A touch of water to tame it down. Nope, that was a wrong thing to do. More horseradish. The final finish was to add a small amount of sugar (next time I'll try white wine vinegar) and salt to offset a bitter note, then a bit of sour cream and mayonnaise. It sounds a mess but came as close as I can remember to the horseradish sauce a favorite restaurant provides with its prime rib. I have 4 more roots for experimentation, not only for a meat sauce but for salad additions. I see some good ideas earlier in this topic.

 

 

Is anyone else doing things with horseradish these days? What's your favorite preparation? Has anyone tried the leaves, as mentioned above? My gardener friend would be delighted to hear of such an idea.

[Wolf]

On 4/6/2009 at 6:03 PM, kitchenhacker said:

I love horseradish. It is one of those things, though, that you rarely see used in hot preparations. Is this a natural limitation of horseradish or merely tradition? Can it be cooked to good effect? If anyone has any ideas/thoughts about this, I'd be interested.

 

In Croatia (and I'd think it would be german cuisine influence) we prepare a hot horseraddish sauce, served mostly with boiled beef... Few tablespoons of freshly grated horseraddish are added to the flour while making a roux (although I've seen a slice of white bread soaked in milk as sauce base), and when flour loses 'the edge', beef broth (or sometimes milk) is added, seasoned with pepper and briefly simmered. It's relatively mild sauce, and I quite liked it when I was a kid.

 

Edited to add that (obvioulsly I forgot the salt to taste), that the sauce is sometimes finished with a dollop of cream.

Edited November 24, 2018 by Wolf (log)