Kem Ormond’s vegetable garden: Horseradish - a spicy and pungent addition to your kitchen

The roots of the horseradish plant are used to make the sauce. Photo / Amanda Slater / Flickr

Kem Ormond is a feature writer for NZME and The Country. She’s also a keen gardener. This week, she’s checking out the pungent horseradish.

OPINION

Horseradish is a perennial plant of the family Brassicaceae.

It is a root vegetable, cultivated and used worldwide as a spice and condiment.

It’s typically consumed as prepared horseradish, made from the grated root, plus vinegar, sugar, and salt.

Horseradish sauce, another popular garnish, adds sour cream or mayo to the mix.

If you have not seen horseradish growing or harvested, imagine a thin-looking parsnip with a pungent taste and smell.

Don’t be put off, it makes the most wonderful sauce that packs a punch, and the leaves are also edible but slightly hot.

As a child, I watched my grandfather grow it, harvest it, grate it, and then turn it into jars of wonderful sauce.

It is actually the roots of the plant that you use to make the sauce.

You need to process the root within a week of harvesting otherwise they get too hard to grate. You can also use a food processor to chop them.

It can be used in place of wasabi and is what I would call a “hairs on the chest condiment for beef”.

You can put it in a salad dressing, but don’t be too heavy-handed.

You do need to be careful when processing it as it can irritate your eyes, nose, and throat.

Horseradish is known for its medicinal properties.

It has great antibacterial properties and can be used internally for such conditions as urinary tract infections, kidney stones, fluid retention, sciatic nerve pain, and even gout.

It is great for painful and swollen joints or tissues and minor muscle aches — and I am sure any cold would run a mile.

Growing horseradish

Avocado oil marinade with horseradish, ginger, lemon and bay leaf. Photo / Babiche Martens

Horseradish requires deep, well-drained soil in full sun, although it can tolerate partial shade.

Keep moist when the plant is vigorously growing and drier at other times.

It is easy to grow but you will find that it is better to keep it in one space as it has a habit of spreading.

This hardy perennial plant is easy to grow and is cold- and drought-tolerant.

Find someone who has an established plant and get them to give you some roots of their plant.

Place a 15cm long root in the soil in late winter/early spring, spacing all roots out at 75cm intervals. Cover and water regularly.

Once the shoots appear, reduce them in number to encourage the roots to grow. They enjoy a good feed of liquid seaweed.

Harvest annually after the first frost and replant after the last frost, making sure you dig all the roots up because even the smallest piece of root will regrow.

Once processed, enjoy this pungent sauce, especially with your roast of beef.