I LOVE horseradish.  🙂

I love the look of the plant, the smell of the root and especially the taste!  Every autumn I can hardly wait to dig up a big chunk of the root and prepare it for freezing.

When we bought our home, I noticed some huge, strange looking plants in the corner of the lot, but I wasn’t sure what they were.  As always, I asked my daughter, who identified them as horseradish.  It took me a while to get brave enough to dig some up and use it, but once I did, I was hooked!

I harvest the root in the fall, after frosts have damaged the leaves.  (Always leave enough of the root so it can continue to grow.)

All I do to prepare horseradish for freezing, is: scrub it, peel it, and grate it.   It sounds deceivingly easy.

If you have ever grated horseradish, you know that you would be wise to employ as gas mask.  I  took the reckless route, grating the root by hand, in several short intervals, coming back to it when my eyes weren’t watering profusely and I could see clearly again.  My final prize being a nice pile of horseradish for the winter and extremely clear sinuses!

Then I just spread it out on a cookie sheet and pop it in the freezer.  When it’s frozen, I transfer it to a freezer bag and put it back in the freezer.  It’s ready to use by the spoon-full, whenever I need it!

BENEFITS:

• Having horseradish without preservatives
• Raising your own
• The “secret ingredient” in my potato salad

Jars of prepared horseradish are about $3.50 each and I have enough for about 3 jars worth.

MONEY SAVED:  $10.50

🙂