Horseradish is a very valuable vegetable. The root of this plant has a sharp, pungent odor, a sweetish taste, which later becomes sharp and burning. When grated, mixed with vinegar, it becomes an excellent seasoning for a variety of dishes. Its spicy taste is due to the presence of sinigrin glycoside, which, under the influence of the myrosin enzyme, breaks down, forming potassium sulphide salt, sugar and essential oils. It is allyl oil that acts on the mucous membranes, causing burning and tearing. Before we look at how to cook horseradish at home, let's get acquainted with its useful properties.

Beneficial features

Horseradish is an excellent remedy against scurvy, because it contains a large amount of vitamin C. Since ancient times, this plant has been treated for various diseases, including tumors. In general, homemade horseradish is a pantry of useful substances, it contains many vitamins, essential oils, phytoncides, resinous substances, fiber, as well as macro- and microelements. That is why this product has a powerful healing effect on the human body, stimulates the work of all internal organs and prevents the occurrence of diseases.

Now that we know about this medicinal plant, let's take a closer look at how to cook horseradish at home.

Russian table horseradish

To prepare such a dish, first the root is peeled with a knife and rinsed. Then rubbed on a grater. Cold boiled water is poured onto the bottom of clean glass jars and the grated root is laid out in layers so that it does not have time to dry in the open air. A little water is added to the resulting mass until a thick slurry is formed, one piece of sugar or honey and salt to taste. You can also add juice and grated lemon zest, in which case the amount of water will need to be reduced.

We continue to cook horseradish at home. So, the remaining pieces of the root are placed in a bowl with grated product and mixed so that they are at the bottom. It should be noted that the finished horseradish should be of a thick consistency, and not watery. Before serving an appetizer to the table, each tablespoon is diluted with a dessert spoon of sour cream. You need to eat such a dish within twelve hours, otherwise it will lose all its nutritional properties.

Pickled horseradish

Ingredients: one kilogram of horseradish root, half a liter of water, forty grams of sugar, twenty grams of salt, fifty grams of vinegar (9%), cinnamon and cloves to taste.

Cooking

The roots must be washed, peeled and grated, you can pass through a meat grinder. The mass is placed in dry sterile jars with a volume of half a liter. Then sugar and salt are added to the water, brought to a boil, spices are put there, covered with a lid and left until the mixture cools to fifty degrees Celsius. After that, vinegar is added and left for a day. After a while, the solution is filtered, poured into jars and rolled up.

Horseradish with tomatoes

Consider how to cook horseradish at home with tomatoes.

Ingredients: two hundred and fifty grams of horseradish root, three kilograms of tomato, two hundred grams of garlic, three tablespoons of salt and sugar.

Cooking

The roots are well cleaned and soaked for half an hour in cold water. After a while, put in a blender and grind. Tomatoes are washed, cut into slices and scrolled in a meat grinder along with peeled garlic. All components are put in a blender, salt and sugar are added, and then ground. Horseradish appetizer is ready. It can be put in jars and stored in a cold place for a long time, but if consumed immediately after preparation, the body will receive all the nutrients from it. Numerous studies have shown that the pureed product retains all the vitamins for one week, so it is recommended to cook the seasoning in such a quantity that it can be eaten during this time.

Horseradish

This appetizer is spicy, it has an unusual taste and goes well with fried and stewed meat, jelly, fish, dumplings and other dishes. Consider how to cook horseradish at home according to this recipe.

Ingredients: one kilogram of horseradish root, five hundred grams of beetroot juice, one hundred grams of granulated sugar, one glass of table vinegar, thirty grams of salt.

Cooking

The root is cleaned, washed and twisted through a meat grinder. Raw beets are peeled, grated, and juice is squeezed out of the resulting mass, which is then filtered through gauze or a sieve. Sugar and salt are poured into it, mixed thoroughly, vinegar and horseradish are added. The resulting horseradish is laid out in sterile jars and closed with nylon lids, after which it is cleaned in a cold place. This recipe for homemade horseradish is very simple, but the result is a rather healthy dish that can be served with meat and fish.

apple horseradish

Ingredients: three hundred grams of sour apples, fifty grams of sugar or honey, one hundred grams of grated horseradish root, salt and lemon juice to taste.

Cooking

Apples are washed and coarsely chopped, without peeling from seeds and peel. Then they are sprinkled with sugar or honey and stewed. Hot they are rubbed through a sieve, mixed with horseradish, salted and poured over with lemon juice. Snack is ready!

What do they eat horseradish with?

We already know how to cook horseradish at home, let's consider what dishes it is used with.

So, this useful product is served with all fish dishes, such as aspic, pies, calf, smoked stellate sturgeon, boiled sturgeon, and so on. At the same time, horseradish is consumed with cold meat dishes, especially pork. So, it is served with jelly, jelly, aspic pig, poultry aspic, boiled cold beef, tongue, pork head and others.

In Russian cuisine, horseradish was prepared immediately before serving, trying not to leave it for more than two days. At the same time, it was piquantly spicy, made without vinegar. Today, this seasoning is quite popular in cuisines around the world, it has a delicate mild taste along with unexpected piquancy, which is the greatest charm of the snack.

A few simple secrets

Knowing how to cook horseradish at home, you must not forget about some recommendations, the observance of which will help you get a real "Russian snack". So, according to the old Russian recipe, vinegar is not added to horseradish, so it must be prepared immediately before use (the shelf life in this case does not exceed four hours).

In order for the snack to be sweet, but "evil", you need to choose high-quality products for its preparation. The horseradish root in this case should be as thick as a finger, without any damage, strong and juicy. Even if the damage can be corrected by mechanical removal, cutting out bad places, the loss of juiciness is irreparable. Soaking the root also leaches out the juices that give the dish flavor and piquant causticity.

How to store horseradish?

A properly preserved plant root does not lose its beneficial properties; a snack from it will turn out to be “real”. To do this, it is kept in boxes of sand, stacked in rows so that one root does not touch the other. All rows are covered with clean sand without impurities. Once a week, each box is watered (sprinkled) with water so that the sand always remains wet. If you do everything right, then during the year you can get fresh, juicy horseradish.

A bit of history

In the recipes of ancient Russian cuisine, horseradish was used as a seasoning for fish as early as the sixteenth century. A little later, it was introduced into kalya, pickles, saltwort, gravy a few minutes before serving. With the invention of salads, horseradish began to be introduced into them. So, it was added to dishes from carrots, beets, radishes and apples, rutabaga, boiled root crops, as well as vinaigrettes.

Until the beginning of the nineteenth century, seasoning from this vegetable was dominant, had not only nutritional value, but also preventive, since horseradish helped prevent the development of various infectious and bacteriological diseases. Later, horseradish began to be replaced with mustard, but Russian cuisine only lost here. Today, the seasoning from this plant is indispensable on any table, because its taste is so peculiar and attractive that not everyone is able to resist. Moreover, this plant, being a natural antibiotic, is able to defeat many ailments, which is so important in our time. It is only necessary to remember that the dish can retain its beneficial properties for a short period of time, so you need to cook it before serving.