Smith Family Weblog

(You’ll see why that title is appropriate in a moment…)

Every two years, Gramma and Grampa dig and process horseradish. This year, Bryan helped with the digging, and the grandparents sent some roots home with him to process on his own.

So, late one night last month, he set to it, taking photos of the task along the way. Here are the pre-processed roots, which he had soaked in the garage for a few days prior.

Then, he peeled the roots. He said he started with 36.5 oz of horseradish root.  After he cleaned and peeled it, he had 22 ounces left, or about 60 percent of the starting weight.

From Bryan: I blended the horseradish with some water (just enough to allow for blending) and a pinch of salt.  After blending, I let it sit 10 minutes (I read on the internet that the longer it sits, the hotter it gets, up to a point).  Two to three minutes was recommended for mild, about five minutes for medium, and eight minutes for hot.  Ten minutes seemed about right to me.  After that, I added some white vinegar to get the consistency right.

All in all, it’s very good and pretty hot.  Not too bad for a first attempt, anyway.  I made it without safety glasses or ventilation, but it was only two batches in the blender, so not too big or dangerous of a job.  The only cringe inducing moments were after the 10 minute period when I opened the top of the blender to peek in and add vinegar.  It’s probably best to stand back a foot or two from the top of the blender, to not breathe in the fumes directly.

By this point, the entire house smelled like horseradish, and Bryan, perhaps fueled by a combination of the pungent fumes and large quantities of bourbon, continued to snap photos using the camera’s timer function.

Thanks, Gramma and Grampa, for sharing—we will enjoy this in the months to come.