Homemade Prepared Horseradish

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Making prepared horseradish from horseradish root is super easy and only calls for three ingredients: freshly grated horseradish, vinegar and a tad bit of salt.

Horseradish root can usually be bought in the produce section at the grocery store. Since the root is a seasonal herb you may only be able to find fresh root in the fall season at the store or your local farmers market. Or maybe try growing some in your backyard and harvest your own.

Growing Horseradish

Horseradish crowns are super easy to grow. But a bit of advice: the horseradish foliage does take up a lot of room in the garden. I’d say just one crown can get as big as 3 feet wide to 3 feet tall. So if you have a tiny garden you may try planting this at the edge of the garden or maybe even in a large pot.

Plant the crown in the spring and harvest in the fall or right before the ground freezes. And if you don’t harvest it the first year no worries as you can harvest it the next year. Horseradish is a perennial. Try growing your own and get your horseradish crown here.

Ways to use prepared horseradish

• Cocktail sauce for dipping shrimp
• Use as a condiment when serving prime rib (see my prime rib roast recipe here)
• Mix in with Bloody Mary’s
• Add to your favorite sandwiches for a little zing
• Turn horseradish into a sauce by adding to sour cream
• Add as a garnish to a hearty beef stew
• Use horseradish to add a little kick to any dish

How much horseradish do you really need to make prepared horseradish?

When making horseradish you only need to make an amount that you plan to use. The fresher it’s made the better. And it really doesn’t take much time to make it anyway. Plus, any leftover uncut horseradish can be kept in a baggie in the refrigerator. Matter of fact when I harvest horseradish I have a gallon baggie filled with horseradish root that keeps for months. Sometimes it may even begin to sprout and that is ok because it can be replanted in the spring.

So to give you an idea of how much horseradish root you may need, I was working with about a 9-inch long piece of root that was about 1-inch in diameter. I only used half of it which made about 2 cups of grated horseradish. And after it was all processed it filled up two 4-ounce jars. I then put the extra uncut horseradish in a baggie and placed it in the refrigerator for making another batch for a later date.

Making Homemade Prepared Horseradish

Ingredients:

• 1 cup grated horseradish root (1 cup will make one 4-ounce jar) I used about a 5-inch long root that was about 1-inch in diameter and still had leftover root)
• 1 Tablespoon aged white wine vinegar
• 1/8 teaspoon flaked salt

Instructions:

Peel horseradish

The first step in making prepared horseradish you must peel the skin from the root and then grate it. Be extremely careful when grating horseradish as it has a pungent aroma that can cause your eyes to water, nose to run and it may even make you cough.

There are two ways to preparing horseradish. Use the one that best suits you. You can use a hand grater, the part with the small little round raised grates or you can use a food processor.

Hand Grating Fresh Horseradish

Hand grating fresh horseradish can be a bit tedious and time consuming. Although the hand grater will make a very fine consistency horseradish similar to what you can get in the grocery store it does take some elbow grease to grate this way.

Food Processing Fresh Horseradish

Using a food processor to chop or grate fresh horseradish is a quick method but it will usually leave big chunks which may not be as desirable. It kind of reminds me of the consistency of minced garlic.

As an experiment I made two batches of freshly grated horseradish (one cup each). One cup using the hand grater and the other cup with the food processor. I really liked the hand grated consistency but I didn’t like the time consuming process. And I really didn’t like the consistency I got when using the food processor just because of the larger pieces it produced. So, I then put the food processor grated horseradish into my coffee and spice grinder and that miraculously did the trick. I got the consistency I was looking for without all the hard work. So in the future I do recommend using the food processor and then to get a finer consistency use the coffee and spice grinder.

TIP: When using the food processor and when opening the lid after grating/chopping the horseradish, be extra cautious as you will get a massive whiff of horseradish right in the face that will knock your socks off. Please be careful.

Add Ingredients

After grating the horseradish let it sit for about 10 minutes in a small bowl. This will allow the horseradish to breath and as it sits it seems to get a bit hotter. Then add 1 Tablespoon vinegar (I use this aged white wine vinegar) and 1/8 teaspoon salt flakes. Stir to combine and place horseradish into a small container and refrigerate until ready to use. Enjoy!

I AM EXCITED YOU ARE VIEWING JETT’S RECIPE FOR HOMEMADE PREPARED HORSERADISH AND WOULD LOVE TO HEAR HOW IT TURNS OUT SHOULD YOU DECIDE TO MAKE IT!

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