Basic Horseradish Sauce (2024)

As I mentioned in my previous post, I grow horseradish in my backyard. I had not shared any background about it, or recipes using it, because it is completely alien to Mexican cuisine. However, since I have posted photos of my plants, beaming with white blooms, several times, I figured it was time to write a little about this flavourful root.

Click here to go to printable recipe: Basic Horseradish Sauce

Horseradish (Armoracia rusticana) is an interesting plant with a long history, originally from a region that today is part of Russia and Ukraine, used extensively as a medicinal herb in Egypt as far back as 1500 BC, and known in ancient Rome and Greece. Around the 10th Century, horseradish became part of the bitter herbs in the Jewish Passover Seder. Later on, it had begun to appear as a foodstuff in Central Europe, and by the mid 1600s, English people were eating horseradish with their roasts and oysters. The German term Meerrettich (sea radish, in the sense of being foreign), is believed by some historians to have been mispronounced as “mare-radish” in English, giving origin to the word “horseradish.” English immigrants brought horseradish to Canada and the United States in the 1800s, and by the middle of that century, it was being marketed as a sauce, notably by the Sass family in Illinois, and Henry John Heinz in Pennsylvania.

Spain somehow seems to have missed the incorporation of horseradish into its cuisine, and hence, its former colonies in the Americas, including Mexico. I found a comment about being known as jrein in Argentina, identified as a term close to Eastern European names, for example, chrzan in Polish, and khren in Russian, so maybe horseradish made its way to Argentina via Eastern European immigrants. Nowadays, horseradish sauce may be found in many countries, including Mexico, where it is usually called rábano picante – spicy radish.

The pungency of horseradish originates from a compound called Sinigrin (allyl-glucosinolate); when the flesh tissue of horseradish is disrupted by grating or chopping, Sinigrin breaks up through an enzymatic reaction, releasing allyl isothiocyanate, an oily substance that irritates eyes, nose and sinuses, also present in other cruciferous plants, such as mustard seed. As the reaction progresses, grated horseradish will become hotter and hotter, until reaching a point in which most of the allyl isothiocyanate has been released; most references I checked cite this point at the three minute mark. Adding vinegar stops the enzymatic reaction, so it is up to the cook to decide how fast to work, process or serve, to obtain a milder or spicier taste; if vinegar is added immediately after grating, the reaction is stopped right away and the horseradish will be mild, and if three minutes have elapsed, the product will be at its spiciest point. It is then a good idea to set up all the ingredients and tools before prepping the horseradish roots, to have control over the pungency level of the prepared sauce.

In the photo below, my horseradish root harvest, trimmed and pulled out of the soil last week:

These may be stored in a cool, dark place for several weeks, sometimes months. When ready to process, brush thoroughly to remove as much dirt as possible, then wash outdoors, so the dirt will not go down the drain indoors. Wash again in the kitchen sink.

Basic Horseradish Sauce (Prepared Horseradish)

Printable recipe: Basic Horseradish Sauce

Boil some water and allow to reach room temperature, since horseradish spiciness is lost when heated. Set up cooled water, some white wine vinegar and coarse salt, as well as clean jars with lids. Trim tops of horseradish and cut into logs if the roots are branched. Using a sharp knife or vegetable peeler very carefully, and working with the blade moving always away from the body, remove the skin to reveal the creamy white flesh; rinse in cold water:

Work quickly to cut up into chunks, transferring to a measuring cup, to determine the amounts needed of water, vinegar and salt.

Ingredients (for approximately 3 cups of sauce)

2 cups fresh horseradish root chunks
1 cup boiled water, at room temperature
½ cup white wine vinegar
2 tsp coarse salt, or to taste

Place horseradish chunks in a blender jar; add water (photo below, left). Pulse a few times, then scrape horseradish bits down with a spatula (photo below, centre). Process until the horseradish is reduced to small bits (photo below, right):

For milder sauce, add vinegar immediately, or wait a little for spicier, and up to three minutes for the spiciest flavour (photo below, left). Add salt, and continue processing, scraping the walls of the blender jar a couple times, until desired consistency is obtained (photo below, right):

Transfer to clean jars with lids, and/or a serving bowl:

This basic sauce may be stored in the fridge for a few weeks, or in the freezer for a few months.

Serve with steak, roast beef, fish, potatoes, etc. Mix with sour cream and/or mayonnaise for a creamy sauce, or add to ketchup or seasoned tomato sauce for seafood co*cktail sauce. Other combinations may include mustard, beets, garlic, or even added to mashed avocado (photo below, left), with a sprinkle of salt and lime juice (photo below, right), to morph into a fusion guacamole, shown on a chicken alambre taco on the photo at the bottom:

Basic Horseradish Sauce (2024)

Basic Horseradish Sauce (Prepared Horseradish)

References