ISSUE 91, RADISHES, Part 5: Horseradish
Horseradish
A pungent root that provokes extreme reactions . . .
“Horseradish: [January 22. 1917] horseradish is a pernicious, vindictive, ill-natured vegetable that has to be watched every minute. Boiled beef is its only excuse. Little is known of horseradish except that it grows in china pots and loafs around cheap lunch counters at midnight. Mustard, salt cellars, catsup and cab drivers are its boon companions.” [Wilkes Barre Times (January 22, 1917), 1.]
Since the founding of the United States, few foods generated more suspicion than prepared condiments: ketchup, mustard, and horseradish. Fillers, dyes, adulterants, and artificial flavorings were all too frequent unnoticed ingredients in the jars on the grocery shelf. Mustard was the most noxious condiment. Horseradish, particularly if sold as “Horseradish Sauce,” was next in the list of problematic products. A syndicated 1913 newspaper article about “Horseradish sauce” began with a recommendation: “If horseradish roots are obtainable it is best to make your own horseradish sauce. That which is sold in the shops may be made largely with white turnips. Some inferior brands of ready made horseradish sauce are so made.”
Horseradish is a perennial member of the brassica family, primarily propagated by root cutting. Native to Southeast Europe (perhaps in the area of the Ukraine), it spread throughout Europe during antiquity. The grated root, wetted with vinegar, complements the flavor of roast meats, poached fish, and certain vegetable. It came to North America early in the 17th century and has been a garden vegetable staple since. The name is through to reflect the association of horses with things strong and primitive. Yet during the 19th century, the use of horsepower in the grinding of the roots for prepared and bottled sauce led many to assume that the use of horses in processing the root generated the name.
There is always a steady and often unmet demand for horseradish. In the 19th century cities employed rings of glass house gardens for market vegetables. Horseradish was a favorite market gardener staple. From 1905 to 1925 a group of entrepreneurial Midwestern farmers set themselves up as a state’s “Horseradish King. Newspapers periodically profiled these rich horseradish farmers, Andrew Miller of Youngstown, Ohio, Ed Nelson of Portland, Indiana, George Welschedel of Sully County in South Dakota, Jacob Croninger of Sparta, Michigan, Ed McGruder of Fort Smith, Arkansas, Byron Willcutts of Topeka, Kansas. Processing plants were erected in Saginaw in the 1920s. Yet there was something about horseradish that prevented the sort of mass speculation over the crop that took place with oats, avocados, oranges, and sweet corn. Consequently, there was no horseradish glut.
At the end of the 19th century, culinary experimentalists roasted, boiled, and desiccated the root seeing whether they could intensify the already pungent flavor. Boiling damped the fire. Roasting added a bitter note that made the chips of horseradish root inedible. Dried and powdered, the horseradish maintained a fair amount of potency. Yet the cost of processing outweighed the benefits. So horseradish cookering was limited to incorporating grated horseradish into mashed potatoes or casseroles and finishing the dish with some oven time.