2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
The flavor of Russian cuisine is hard to imagine without horseradish. You can get a healthy and tasty product with timely digging and proper storage
Horseradish ordinary / rustic has a taproot thick root (8-10 cm in diameter), going into the soil to a depth of 5 meters. Dormant buds and adventitious roots are located along the entire length, which grow in all directions and give independent rosettes of leaves.
Useful properties of horseradish
The pungent root is good for health, is used in nutrition, and is included in traditional medicine recipes. The root vegetable contains a lot of vitamins, mineral elements, nitrogenous resinous substances, phytoncides, flavonoids.
Lysocine imparts antimicrobial action to the product. The presence of alil mustard oil (100-230 mg per 100 g) gives a burning taste.
In folk medicine, horseradish juice is prized for its antibacterial properties. It is used for angina, tonsillitis, purulent otitis media, as an anesthetic. Relieves swelling, inhibits the growth of malignant tumors, increases immunity, appetite, is used as an expectorant.
Horseradish decoction helps with dysentery, hypertension, liver problems. As a compress, it is effective for gout, radiculitis, purulent wounds, rheumatism. Lotions are done for fungal infections, bruises.
In cooking, horseradish root is ideal for producing the seasoning of the same name. It is included in recipes for vegetable preparations, kvass, sauces, sauerkraut, horseradish, mayonnaise, and is part of complex culinary mixtures. Horseradish is an essential attribute for jellied meat, roast beef, tongue, fried meat. Served with sausages, fatty pork, fish, ham, smoked meat.
What time to harvest
Correctly chosen period for digging up horseradish allows you to get a product with the highest concentration of nutrients. By the time of collection, the root should be saturated with essential oils, vitamins, phytoncides, minerals and other elements.
You can dig horseradish in spring and autumn, focusing on the local climate. Late autumn is ideal for picking. At this time, the growth of the aerial part ends. From withering leaves, the outflow of nutrients into the rhizome begins.
The readiness of the root to dig up is determined by the state of the leaves. If they are green and juicy, then it is early to harvest. The signal for digging will be lodging, partial yellowing of the aboveground part. In this state, all the useful components found in the aboveground part left the leaves to the root, it became more fragrant, juicy, useful.
For harvesting / storage, horseradish is dug up in the fall before the onset of frost, in the Moscow region this is the end of October, November. The best time to harvest is dry weather when there has been no rain during the week. The earth has time to dry out, the root is well extracted.
Horseradish is not afraid of frost and remains unchanged in winter. You can dig up the root in the spring, after thawing the ground, before the foliage begins to grow. At this time, the juice and all the potential of the forces are concentrated in the rhizome.
For summer preparations, horseradish roots are placed in jars of cucumbers / tomatoes, they can be dug out from mid-July. At the same time, leaf stalks have a characteristic taste and are used in the preservation of vegetables.
The best specimens for collection are two to three year old roots. The old ones have a rough, fibrous structure, while the young ones lack pungency and characteristic taste.
How to dig a horseradish
The height of horseradish leaves can reach 1.5 m, so that they do not interfere with collection, they are cut off (10-20 cm are left above the ground). Given the large deepening of the rhizome, it is necessary to provide maximum access - within a radius of 10-15 cm, soil is dug up to 20-30 cm.
It is convenient to dig up horseradish with a narrow shovel or the "Kolesov's sword" device. Such tools allow, with minimal effort, to extract long specimens.
How to save horseradish
Horseradish can be stored for 10-12 months if there are no rotten places on it and the thickness is not less than 1 cm. The foliage of the dug specimen is cut off to a height of 2-3 cm, the adhering earth is cleared. The prepared roots are placed in a plastic bag and sent to the freezer (washed and cut). You can put it in a box of wet sand and put it in the cellar or put it in a bag and put it in the refrigerator.
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