Homemade Horseradish

My Jewish friends had to make maror for Passover and I was curious how this was done. And so here it is–homemade horseradish and, wow!

Wow, because it will clear your sinus and wow, it’s quite delicious. ( I have two witnesses to that!)

What is maror? It’s bitter herbs. Today Jews typically grate horseradish to make maror. And the reason they eat bitter herbs is because, simply, God told them to do so.

It was one of foods eaten during the first Passover when God delivered the Jewish people out of Egypt and slavery. They were also instructed to slaughter and roast a lamb, and eat unleavened bread. Bitter herbs has been eaten in observance on Passover after that.

Some people eat lettuce (which has the bitter stem). You are supposed to wrap a big spoonful of maror in lettuce leaf and eat it. Or place the maror on the unleavened bread (matza) and eat that.

Ooooh! Try that. It’s like swallowing a dollop of wasabi. The bitterness is a reminder of the hardship suffered in Egypt. Eating the horseradish may bring tears to your eyes.

Who makes horseradish ordinarily? You can (with some searching) find bottled “fresh grated” prepared horseradish on supermarket shelves. Forget the ones mixed with mayo. These bottles shown here have been my standby for years. But I’ll confess now, now that I’ve tried the fresh horseradish I may never get the bottled stuff again. I used to love these.

When learning how to grate horseradish I was warned that I should use eyeglasses and gloves because the oils from the bitter root is quite potent. Nah, I’m from Singapore where we are trained in the hard mortar-and-pestle school of pounding chili. But I did move my face away from the blender when I opened it after pulverizing the horseradish root. (Also learned from experience.)

You really don’t want to be too close–face-to-face–with these pungent foods. It could hurt your eyes. Please do use safety glasses when grating the horseradish if you’re sensitive and cry when peeling onions.

Making grated horseradish is simple. The only difficult part is finding fresh horseradish root. I found some in Whole Foods but didn’t see it anywhere else. They sell them about 6-8 inches long, enough to make two small jars of horseradish. That piece cost me about $4.

Looks like a stump you want to toss out from your garden, I was surprised that it peeled easily. As soon as you start peeling you get that fresh whiff of horseradish. It’s good. I did wear gloves when peeling the root. Then I chopped it into pieces. It was tough, a little harder than cutting carrots.

When chopped up, there was so much horseradish I worked it in the blender in two batches to grate it more efficiently. Then all that was left was to add vinegar and salt. In one batch I dribbled a bit of water but I don’t think you need to do that. If it feels dry in the blender add a little more vinegar.

I don’t usually use exact measurements. Add a little liquid at a time to get the blender going. Don’t add too much vinegar or it will get too sour. I tested and adjusted as I progressed with the blending.

Having Homemade Horseradish then gave me an excuse to hound around for Roast Beef. My neighborhood supermarket, situated near a metro amidst condos for young professionals, sells great dinners every week day and on Thursday I got a Roast Beef dinner with mixed vegetables and roasted potatoes for $9.99! Can you believe it?

Cocktail Sauce: My friend, June Yoon, liked the horseradish too and also thought of various foods to eat with the horseradish. She made sandwiches and her sons liked it. She also made a cocktail dipping sauce with the horseradish I gave her. So creative!

Her recipe is below my Basic for Homemade Horseradish.

Homemade Prepared Horseradish

Preparation time: 15-20 minutes

1 horseradish root, about 8-10 ounces
½ cup vinegar
2 teaspoon salt

Carefully peel root and chop into diced pieces. Place half in blender, add ¼ cup of vinegar and 1 teaspoon salt. Pulse periodically until you get finely grated pieces. You may have to scrape the contents around in the blender to move the grated pieces around.