- Joined
- Oct 12, 2020
- Messages
- 407
- Climate
- Cold, Cool, Mountains, or Artic
Well, today was the day. Actually, it did start yesterday. As I wanted to prepare a spot to plant garlic I needed to dig up some of the horseradish here in the city. Then today, we were out to the country where there was another bunch. After digging in the country, I redistributed some roots around in order to make more of a patch. The down side to this year's harvest is that there is a lot of older roots. I guess that isn't necessarily a down side...the older, woodier roots need to be peeled and they are more potent.
After She Who Must Be Obeyed blew a tire on the Cub Cadet mower, I'd about had enough so we didn't get quite everything done today that I would have liked to, but loaded it up in the back of the truck to get that dealt with...good thing I played rugby for a couple years as I used a bit of my loose head prop nature to get it up the ramps.
Anyway, back to the interesting stuff. After getting a bit cleaned up, it was time to go to work in the kitchen...by that I mean open a window and turn on the overhead fan.
First up, the ingredients:
I only use the alum powder to help it from browning (apparently). I put some in water where I put the roots after they are cleaned up. Other than that, the mustard powder if probably optional...my father used some, so I do too. The vinegar helps to keep things a bit moist.
Here's the roots in the sink ready to be cleaned up.
Cleaned up and in the water with alum powder. Generally, I just wash the smaller roots and leave the outer layer on...I could scrape them with a knife to make for a paler product.
Power tool...'nuff said.
Mixed up with mustard powder and vinegar.
It made a bit over 4.5 cups worth of sauce. I don't need that much...for some reason, most of my family don't care for it. The one who does like it is halfway across the country for university.
Here's a prettier picture of the finished product. One thing I like is that I don't need to bother with sealing the jars...some folks might take that as anathema, but nothing grows in this stuff.
I did give it an obligatory taste after drying my eyes and wiping my nose. I took just a bit from the tip of the spoon...hold on to your socks or they'll be knocked off. This year's batch definitely has some bite to it.
I'm happy...it was a productive Labour Day.
After She Who Must Be Obeyed blew a tire on the Cub Cadet mower, I'd about had enough so we didn't get quite everything done today that I would have liked to, but loaded it up in the back of the truck to get that dealt with...good thing I played rugby for a couple years as I used a bit of my loose head prop nature to get it up the ramps.
Anyway, back to the interesting stuff. After getting a bit cleaned up, it was time to go to work in the kitchen...by that I mean open a window and turn on the overhead fan.
First up, the ingredients:
I only use the alum powder to help it from browning (apparently). I put some in water where I put the roots after they are cleaned up. Other than that, the mustard powder if probably optional...my father used some, so I do too. The vinegar helps to keep things a bit moist.
Here's the roots in the sink ready to be cleaned up.
Cleaned up and in the water with alum powder. Generally, I just wash the smaller roots and leave the outer layer on...I could scrape them with a knife to make for a paler product.
Power tool...'nuff said.
Mixed up with mustard powder and vinegar.
It made a bit over 4.5 cups worth of sauce. I don't need that much...for some reason, most of my family don't care for it. The one who does like it is halfway across the country for university.
Here's a prettier picture of the finished product. One thing I like is that I don't need to bother with sealing the jars...some folks might take that as anathema, but nothing grows in this stuff.
I did give it an obligatory taste after drying my eyes and wiping my nose. I took just a bit from the tip of the spoon...hold on to your socks or they'll be knocked off. This year's batch definitely has some bite to it.
I'm happy...it was a productive Labour Day.