I’ve always been a fan of horseradish with my steak or roast beef. I’m sure it goes with a hell of a lot more things that I’ve never even tried. Well come fall I’ll be looking for some good ideas. Along with my potatoes I planted two horseradish roots. They’re not quite in full sun, but in the shadow of the chokecherry and lilac bushes. As mentioned in the last post horseradish is supposedly a good companion for potatoes and I had the space anyway.
They went in easy. The soil I had worked over was loose and rich. As per instructions on various websites I planted them about 2 inches deep on a slight angle. The roots look similar to a dandelion root and from pictures of mature plants the leaves look a little ‘weedy’ as well.
I should expect shoots in a few weeks and can harvest sometime this fall but will taste its best after the first hard frost. It can apparently become invasive if left in the ground and care should be taken to limit its spread. I can’t think of any other ‘weed’ that is as useful as this, well maybe a rampant raspberry patch.
To prepare horseradish it should first be grated (which can irritate the eyes and nasal patches apparently) and then mixed with a bit of vinegar and cream for creamed horseradish or with a little bit of veg oil to make a spicier version. Maybe a delicious addition to some of its mashed neighbours, the potato?
Have you grown horseradish? What is your favourite way to prepare it? Leave me a comment!
Ref: Herb Expert UK
Posted by Horseradish… part II « Farming in the City on June 14, 2009 at 12:29 am
[...] love horseradish. I don’t eat it a lot but I do like the look of the plant and am hoping that growing my own [...]